SG1 Comes to Sunnydale
by Kerrain
Summary: This story is No. 3 in the series "Nexus of Chaos". When an old friend of Daniel's posts on the internet looking for information about Ra, Jaffa and Teleportation SG1 is sent to investigate. Please have read Xander and the Ferula-Gemina to Chapter19 or this won't make much sense.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

If you have not read Xander and the Ferula-Gemina than this will probably not make much sense. This story takes place at around Chapter 19.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
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Chapter 1 Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.  
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As SG1 exited the Stargate in Cheyenne Mnt. the voice of General Hammond came over the speaker. "Welcome home, SG1. Report to my office as soon as Dr. Fraiser clears you."

The team looked at each other and Jack said "Well you heard the General. Move it, people."

"I wonder why he wants to see us?" Daniel said.

"Don't worry about it, Danny. Probably has some news for us. Maybe one of the other teams captured Nirrti."

"That would be welcome news indeed, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"I agree, sir. I just hope the General doesn't hold us too long. I have some experiments I wanted to run," Sam added.

After being released from medical, SG1 reported to Gen. Hammond's office. Entering the office Hammond said, "Take a seat. I called you because a possible security breach has occurred. One of Major Carter's programs picked this up on a language translation forum. It was asking about any legends surrounding Ra and his Jaffa. It also specifically asked for legends about his enemies disappearing in a flash of light."

"Gen. Hammond, that seems pretty vague," Daniel said.

"How is this a possible security breach, sir?" Jack asked.

"Normally, the program Maj. Carter wrote would not have flagged this as very high priority. But the program cross checks locations and names associated to the location. This question was uploaded from a store in Sunnydale, California. The store owner's name was Rupert Giles."

"Dr. Rupert Giles?" Daniel asked. "Formerly a Curator for the British Museum?"

"So since Daniel knows him, my program flagged it at a higher priority."

"That is correct. Since a known associate of SG1 is asking these questions, we need to know why." Gen. Hammond continued, "When we tried to get more information about the situation, we encountered several roadblocks. I was unofficially told that there may be a NID unit operating there. And several of the people I contacted told me of reports from the local Army base claiming they had seen men with yellow eyes."

"You suspect a Goa'uld presence?" Teal'c asked.

"If the NID is in that town, you can bet there'll be problems. So when do we leave, sir?" Jack asked.

"Officially, you are going to Sunnydale base to check out some possible recruits. I have scheduled you to be there nine days. Since Sunnydale is an hour from Vandenberg, I have arranged for you to fly into Vandenberg." Hammond paused. "Unofficially, I would like you to investigate, find out what is going on, and make a determination as to whether or not we are dealing with a foothold situation. Your flight leaves in four hours. Good luck," Gen. Hammond said.

Once the team was on board the C130 and they were in the air, Jack said "So Danny, tell us about Dr. Rupert Giles."

"Rupert is a Dr. of Ancient Mythology and Languages. He specialized in Babylonian and Sumerian cultures," Daniel yelled over the sounds of the engines. "I started corresponding with him when I was a grad student. After three months we discovered that our fathers had been friends. We continued to write each other for almost three years. I lost touch with him after what happened with publishing my book."

"He no longer wished to be associated with you, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"No, I was the one who stopped writing him. He had warned me that even if many of my arguments were well put together, just as with his own work to present it as fact would cause too many problems for people to accept it. He once gave the example of what if he put out a paper arguing that the demons and gods of myths were really aliens." Daniel said.

"What did he work on?" Sam asked.

"Primarily myths. He even sent me several papers he wrote on cross culture myths of demons and vampires. He used to joke that based on those myths, I should never invite anyone into my home. Instead I should only open the door; if they could enter then they were fine. He also said in many ancient cultures, the people would never have any signs that welcomed someone into their homes. It was considered an open invitation to evil demons."

"What are demons and vampires, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"Vampires, T, you know, they want to suck your blood?" Jack replied.

"Demons were monsters that may appear human, but were disfigured in some way. The Unas would have been seen as demons. Some also would have horns and claws. Vampires are supposed to be the recently deceased who rise from their graves and feed on human blood. They can't come out in the sun, and holy icons repel them," Daniel explained.

"You speak of the Orak Ha'taaka? The Tau'ri have legends of them as well?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel was trying to translate the phrase, Orak Ha'taaka, Unspeakable Killer? "What legends do you have about demons and vampires?" Daniel asked.

"I do not know those tales well. Most of the tales say Ra led the forces of the gods against them. That their battles lasted thousands of years, but Ra was victorious. However I am still learning all of the old tales," Teal'c responded. "It would be better to ask Master Bra'tac to come and share them with you."

"Sir, before we left I set up a sniffer program. By the time we arrive in Sunnydale we should have more information about Rupert Giles. And any known associates in Sunnydale," Carter added.

Once the plane landed, they were issued a vehicle from the base. They arrived at the Sunnydale base just as the sun was setting. The guards at the gate house seemed to first check them, through the mirrors that were posted at the top of the gates. They visibly relaxed after seeing the reflections.

Once they had presented their identification and orders they were directed to the OOD. He proceeded to log them into the base and issue them their base identification and housing. The Sunnydale base was odd. The housing, instead of being standard base housing, was built as an actual house. And the paperwork was more along the lines of a rental agreement than temporary housing. They were shocked when the Officer On Duty required that they each pay a one dollar rental fee.

The OOD also apologized saying, "Your quarters were recently vacated by the former base chaplain. Due to budget cuts we have not removed some of the religious symbolism. I hope that won't be a problem."

Jack assured him that it would be fine. Taking the keys they headed to a large five bedroom bungalow. Once inside everyone stored their bags and met in the kitchen.

"So anyone else notice the strange and the weird going on here?" Jack asked.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "The guards at the main entrance were most cautious as we pulled up. Their apprehension only eased after they looked at us through the mirrors posted over the gates."

"Sir, I know the OOD stated this house only has religious icons because of the last occupant. But I noticed almost every single one of the base houses has a large cross attached to the door," Sam said.

"Danny, you got anything?" Jack asked.

"Did you notice on the drive in we passed four large cemeteries?" Daniel asked.

"Well, they are probably no longer in use," Sam said.

"No. I saw either actual funerals taking place or what looked like the gravediggers just finishing up at each of them," Daniel replied.

"What is the significance of this, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.

"T, for a city this size, one cemetery that size would be too large. To have four of them active is strange," Jack replied.

Sam looked at him strangely. How did he know that? "What?" Jack asked. "I can know things too."

"Yes sir, of course sir," Sam quickly replied.

"We need to plan what we're going to do. Tomorrow I think Danny and Sam should walk around town. Perhaps just accidentally encounter Danny's old friend by browsing his store. Do we have the name of the store?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir, it's right here." Carter held up a folder. "According to our intel it's the 'Magic Box'." As Sam read she looked more and more displeased. "According to this, sir, it's a new age wicca shop. Selling potion and spell ingredients."

"What is a 'new age wicca'?" Teal'c asked.

"It's a store where people can go to buy things to perform magic spells," Daniel explained. Seeing that Teal'c did not seem to comprehend, he continued "Wiccans believe that through spells they can change the environment around them: cause rain or good luck, bless or curse things, cause plants to grow."

"And do many of the Tau'ri possess these abilities?" Teal'c asked. "I would think they would be a great aid in battling the Goa'uld."

Jack laughed and an indignant Maj. Carter said "None of them possess those abilities. It's just superstitious nonsense. Science has proven that magic does not exist."

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be great if we could use magic to curse the Goa'uld?" Jack laughed. "While Danny and Sam are exploring the town, I'll take Teal'c and we will check out the possible recruits here. We'll meet for lunch at 13:00 hours. Sam, it's your job to find a decent place to eat when you're checking out the town. Danny likes too many strange foods to trust him."

"Sam, what has your program turned up so far on Rupert Giles?" Jack continued.

Pulling out her laptop Maj. Carter accessed the program. "Rupert Giles came to the States in late 1996. He had a work visa, was expedited at the request of his sponsor. He was sponsored by an international group listed as the IWC."

'What's the IWC?" Jack asked.

"It's a non-profit with close ties to the English monarchy. They specialize in preserving ancient cultural artifacts. I know many of the Anthropology and Archaeology students, have ran into them on digs. Also their library is considered one of the best in the world," Daniel replied.

"So why are they listed as a sponsor for Rupert Giles?" Jack asked.

"I think his father was a member of the group," Daniel said. "He might have some legacy connections that he used to expedite a visa."

Sam continued, "He was employed as the Sunnydale High school librarian until this year, when the school apparently exploded during last year's graduation."

"What?" Jack asked.

"According to this, sir, the school suffered a gas leak during the graduation ceremonies. The explosion destroyed the school. Notable deaths were the Mayor of Sunnydale, Richard Wilkins the third, and the principal, Romulus Snyder."

"Romulus? Really? Who names their kid that?" Jack asked rhetorically.

"It's California, Jack," Daniel supplied.

What else do you have, Carter?" Jack asked.

"According to records, Dr. Giles is listed as the sponsor for the school's Archeology and Ancient Cultures club. The club had three core members with membership rising as high as five over the three year period. Buffy Summers, Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenburg are the three original members. Daniel Osborne and Cordelia Chase were both members the final year." Sam continued, "We may have found the connection to Dr. Giles decision to come to Sunnydale. I found an amended birth certificate. It shows that Rupert Giles is actually the biological father of Alexander Harris. Another document shows that as of three days ago Alexander Lavelle Harris's name was changed to Alexander Lavelle Giles. The same day another amended birth certificate was filed for a Tolerance Tara Giles, also based on biological verification of paternity. Her current residency is listed as student housing for UC Sunnydale."

"The records for Alexander show he was a mediocre student taking all AP classes. His teachers thought he lacked ambition. Hospital records also indicate from the age of three he was admitted numerous times for 'accidents' at home. Based on the reports he was heavily abused. In fact based on this I don't understand how child services left him in the home. Reports were filed on both the Mother Jessica Lavelle Rayne nee Harris and Anthony Robert Harris. None of the reports show any follow up," Sam said.

"If Dr. Rupert Giles discovered his son was being abused, perhaps he came to Sunnydale to assist him," Teal'c commented.

"That'd make sense. Rupert never mentioned having kids, but he did say he was a rebel when he was younger," Daniel added.

"The other two members of the club are very interesting. Willow Rosenberg was a budding hacker. Her parents are noted psychologists Ira and Sheila Rosenberg. She was actually flagged by the DoD and CIA for possible future recruitment. She is listed as an introvert personality, with a high desire to prove herself. Sir, her intelligence scores are almost as high as mine." Carter continued, "During her Junior year, the high school computer teacher died. Ms. Rosenberg taught the class for the rest of the year. After that her interest in hacking appeared to die out."

"Or she got skilled enough to quit leaving trails," Jack said.

"Yes, sir. Buffy Summers is the last of the three. She is listed as the daughter of Hank and Joyce Summers. According to the information I found she was the prime suspect in a fire at her original high school in LA. Hemery High suffered a fire which they believe contributed to over twenty students dying. Buffy was considered a suspect because several witnesses at the scene stated she had been fighting a gang that attacked the school prom. Her record indicates that shortly before the prom she was suspended for breaking another student's arm, but no charges were filed due to lack of plausible evidence. The student in question was six foot six and weighed almost three hundred pounds. Buffy Summers is listed at five foot two and weighing one hundred and ten pounds.

"After the fire her parents briefly had her institutionalized. We haven't gotten ahold of the records for that yet, but she was there for three weeks before she was released," Carter said.

"Three weeks would be enough for a drug rehabilitation program," Daniel said.

"It's a possibility," Jack said.

"According to the records Joyce and Hank Summers completed a messy divorce one month later. Mrs. Summers filed for divorce based on infidelity. She received sole custody of her daughter, and a large settlement. Using the settlement money she bought a three bedroom house and a small art gallery in Sunnydale. Records also indicate that the house was renovated this last summer. It is now a five bedroom five and a half bath house. Sir, something strange seems to have happened. My program shows signs of being compromised," Carter said.

"What?" Jack exclaimed.

"Something in the search parameters for the Summers family has triggered someone to attack the program. It looks like the program shut down rather than be compromised. I built that in as a safety measure," Carter said. "According to the logs, it was when accessing information regarding Joyce Summers. And the attack came from Langley, sir."

"What does the CIA have to do with a suburban mom?" Daniel asked.

"Good question. Add the fact that she has ties to your Dr. Giles, add a possible NID operation in town, and we have a mystery," Jack answered.

"Tomorrow I'll contact General Hammond, see if he can shake anything free about Joyce Summers. Aside from that we'll follow the plan." Jack stood up. "Let's get some shut eye, campers."

The next morning found Maj. Carter and Daniel leaving the base in one of the base vehicles. Sam was in civilian clothes. As they headed into town, Sam said, "We should drive around the town until we get a feel for it. If there's a foothold situation we need to know the terrain."

After driving around for over an hour Daniel asked Sam, "Sam, have you counted how many cemeteries we have passed? And all of them were in use."

"Twelve, Daniel. I counted twelve. And I noticed a town of less than forty thousand people has their own Zoo, Museum and a College. All looked to be about the same size you would expect to find in a city five times this size," Sam replied.

"I think we should get some coffee. Just sit for a while. Watch the people, maybe check out the local paper if they have one," Daniel suggested.

Pulling up in front of the Espresso Pump, Daniel parked the car. Getting out, he almost ran into a young college aged man who had been talking to someone behind him as he exited. The guy behind him called out, "Watch where you're going, Graham."

Graham turned to them and apologized. Then yelled back to his friend, "See you back at the house, Riley."

Sam noticed both this Riley and Graham carried themselves like soldiers. Probably Army; either Green Berets or Rangers.

Once inside she and Daniel ordered their coffee and Sam watched the people while Daniel was looking through the local Sunnydale Times. After about fifteen minutes, Daniel passed the Obituary section of the paper to Sam. Surprisingly it was almost three full pages. "Hey Sam, check out the number one cause of death."

Sam read through glancing at the pages. "Are you serious? Exsanguination caused by an accident with a barbecue fork?"

"Yeah, and the next most common cause of death? A wild animal attack." Daniel added, "Have you noticed a large population of stray dogs today?"

"No." Samantha Carter did not like mysteries. And the facts they had found so far were not adding up. "I think we should go visit the 'Magic Box' and possibly the gallery to see if we can find anything out."

Exiting the coffee shop, Daniel and Sam headed down Sunnydale's Main Street. They began casually browsing various shops, entering in more than half the stores. The Summers gallery was interesting, combining both new age artwork and more traditional African tribal art. They briefly met the owner who was present and Daniel had a short conversation about the tribal art work she had displayed.

After that they made their way to the Magic Box. Entering the store they could see an older man and young blonde woman. The older man was dressed in a conservative fashion and the young woman in a stereotypical wiccan style of Earth mother dress.

On entering the man spoke with an English accent, "Welcome to the Magic Box. Please feel free to browse, and if you need any assistance myself or Tara here would be happy to help you."

Sam was taking the lead. "Thank you, we just wanted to browse. But I must say I think you're the first English accent I heard today. It is an English accent, right?"

"Oh yes it is. Excuse me for my manners. Rupert Giles, owner of the Magic Box," Giles introduced himself.

At hearing his name Daniel acted surprised. "Dr. Rupert Giles? Of the British Museum?"

Giles looked at him. "Well, yes, several years ago I did work at the museum."

"Dr. Giles, I don't know if you will remember me after all this time. I'm Daniel Jackson. We used to write each other. You were a great sounding board for my theories. And I really am sorry after you proved you were right about my presenting them I stopped writing," Daniel said.

"Oh bollocks," Giles exclaimed. Daniel, Sam and Tara all looked surprised at Giles statement and in Tara's case his unusual outburst. "I do apologize, Daniel. That was not directed at you. A new friend of my son's has a habit of surprising us. Something he did recently just made sense. And I am afraid I just connected the dots so to speak. It really has nothing to do with you."

"Dad, do you mean Xander's friend Shemp?" Tara asked.

"Yes I could almost wish that he was not so friendly. But over all he hasn't done any harm," Giles replied. Turning to Daniel. Giles asked, "Daniel, delighted to finally meet you in person. But come, you must sit down and we can chat. Perhaps I could offer you and Ms…?"

"Carter, Samantha Carter," Sam introduced herself. "But please call me Sam."

"Ah yes, perhaps I could offer you both some tea?" Giles said. The three sat and talked, Daniel giving his cover story of working for the military in linguistic analysis. Sam explained she was a high energy physics researcher. All three of them danced around the truth.

After almost an hour Sam asked if they had a bathroom she could use. Giles directed her to the store's bathroom. Once inside Sam noticed in the trash can a torn yellow legal notepad paper. Picking it up she was shocked at what she saw. She quickly pocketed the paper. After coming out of the bathroom she noticed the door to the back of the store. A quick look verified that no one was watching her. Opening it she quickly glanced around.

The back room seemed to be part storage for the store and the other half was set up as a dojo. Training mats, practice dummies, a heavy bag and lots of medieval weapons. Definitely not something she was expecting to see in a new age wicca shop. Closing the door she quickly made her way back to the front of the store.

"Daniel, Rupert, I hate to break this up but we have a lunch date soon with some friends. If we are going to make it I think we need to leave now," Carter said.

"Oh, well, certainly. If you'll be in town for long you must come back and visit. And Daniel, remember, it really is inviting bad luck to invite anyone into your home. I hope you would recall that. Especially as Sunnydale seems to abound with bad luck," Giles added.

Daniel laughed, "I'll keep that in mind. And hopefully we can meet again soon."

Leaving the store Daniel asked Sam, "What's the rush? We still have over an hour before we are supposed to meet Jack and Teal'c."

"Once we are in the car I'll explain," Sam said. "And I'm driving." Getting into the car Sam handed Daniel the torn yellow paper.

As Daniel read it he exclaimed, "We need to get this back to Jack. Can you drive faster?" Sam smiled and stepped on the gas.

When they were almost to the base Sam's phone rang. Daniel answered it. A brief conversation followed. After hanging up Daniel told Sam, "There's a problem with Jack on the base. Head to the house as soon as we get there."

Earlier that morning, Jack and Teal'c started the day with a call to Gen. Hammond. Jack, after explaining the connection between Joyce Summers and Langley, asked the General to see what he could find out. Hammond said he would make some inquiries and get back to Jack when he had something.

Jack and Teal'c were beginning preliminary evaluation of ten possible recruits. They started with hand to hand skills. They had been going through the recruits and were almost done when a private came up to Jack.

"Col. O'Neill?" The private began, saluting Jack. He continued once Jack returned the salute. "Sir, there is a video call for you in building C4 room 14b. A Gen. Hammond has asked that you be brought there immediately."

"Right, let me grab Murray and we'll head over," Jack replied. It looked like George had found something.

"Negative, sir. The orders were for you to come alone," The private replied.

"Alright, I will just inform Murray so that after he's done he can come and wait for me." Jack called Teal'c over. He explained what was going on and followed the private to building C4.

Once in the video room, he was connected to General Hammond. "Sir, what's going on? Orders said for me to come alone," Jack asked.

"Col. O'Neill, I have some potentially difficult news for you. As a result of your call earlier I was contacted by the Director of National Intelligence." Jack was shocked; how could a suburban mother have been involved with someone so high in the government? "He had some very interesting things to tell me. And son, you better sit down."

Gen. Hammond waited for Jack to sit down. "In 1982 a rogue CIA operation started a clandestine eugenics program. They used genetic sources from multiple people. The goal was to see if they could engineer a superior specimen. Records from a recent investigation show that they created over two hundred children. All of them were female. The project directors considered this a failure. However the spontaneous abortion rate for male fetuses was unable to be explained. The program was discontinued in 1984."

George paused. "Records show that ova from Joyce Summers was harvested without her consent. This egg was combined with sperm from a US soldier who had already began to distinguish himself. The resulting child was one Faith Arlene Lehane. When the program was shut down the child was almost 18 months old. She was grew up in Boston, Ma."

"Approximately two years ago Faith Lehane appears to have moved to Sunnydale, California. We are not clear if she knew or how she would have known that Joyce Summers was her birth mother." Hammond continued, "Approximately seven months ago she was found almost dead. A knife wound to the abdomen and it appeared she had been thrown from a tall building."

"What the hell, sir? Who would want to do that to a, what,15-year-old girl?" Jack asked.

"Subsequent investigations showed that Ms. Lehane was under suspicion for the murders of Professor John Stevens and the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale. Record further revealed that both men were involved in the initial project. The investigators determined that both of them at different times appeared to target Ms. Lehane in order to prevent the program from coming to light." The general paused again.

"Jack, the reason Mrs. Summers was flagged was because of a NDA regarding this project. She somehow found out what had happened. The Director of National Intelligence personally signed off on the agreement to keep this covered up. And I am very sorry for that," Hammond added.

"Sir, I can see this young girl has been screwed over. And I'm pissed about that, but I think I'm missing something," Jack replied.

"Jack," George began. "According to project records the US soldier who was the sperm donor .. It was you. You are the biological father of Faith Arlene Summers."

Jack was stunned; his first thought was this was some kind of a trick. "Sir, have you been able to verify this?" Jack asked.

"I've had Dr. Frasier look at the DNA reports and they appear valid. However until we get a fresh sample and compare her DNA to yours we can not be 100% sure. I am ordering you to get that sample. You are free to approach Mrs and Ms. Summers and explain who you are. They are aware of your name, but were prevented from initiating contact with you by the agreement. I will have the file sent to your email with all the information we have." George could see Jack was barely maintaining his calm. "You are cleared to share this with the rest of your team. Jack, I'm damn sorry this came out this way. Find out the truth and I will move Heaven and Earth to help you. Whatever you decide to do, I'll help."

The call disconnected. Jack sat there for a moment. The picture of Faith showed a beautiful young woman. Jack needed to think. Getting up, he left the 'c was outside waiting.

"What is the matter, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. He could tell something was bothering his fellow warrior.

'Not now, T," Jack responded, forgetting to use Teal'c's cover name. "We need to get back to the house." Jack led the way. Once back in the house, Jack disappeared into the spare bedroom. The sound of shattering furniture soon followed, accompanied by Jack's cursing. "Those rotten bastards" was the cleanest of what Teal'c heard.

Deciding it would be beneficial for Sam and Daniel to get back here he called Sam's phone. After explaining to Daniel the problem he hung up and waited for the rest of the team to arrive.

Once Sam and Daniel arrived, they were able to get Jack to come out. After calming down Jack explained what Gen. Hammond had told him. Pulling up his email he showed the files to his teammates.

Jack was feeling much calmer. Teal'c was the first to comment. "O'Neill, if this is true you should be proud. Your daughter seems to be a formidable warrior. She was able to not only escape from traps designed to kill her, but she also killed her attackers."

"She was fifteen, T! She never should've had to do that," Jack screamed.

"None the less," Teal'c replied. "It only makes her more impressive."

"Jack, you need to see the paper Sam found," Daniel said.

"Why?" Jack asked. His head was still trying to come to grips with what he had learned.  
"Sir, just look at it. It looks like someone was doodling random thoughts and questions," Carter said.

Jack looked at the pieces of paper. Looking at them he was shocked. Grabbing a fresh note pad he began to unjumble the thoughts and questions that were haphazardly written on the paper.

Who is Jack? Why does Shemp want me to have Jack introduce me to Loki?  
Why would Jack know a Roswell Grey?  
Are Jack and Jack O'Neill the same person? How can he help Faith? Could he be Faith's Dad? Is he going to try and kill me? I am so dead.. So so dead..  
What does he have to do with the Goaoold? Will they attack Earth? Is Ra still out there? How long do Goaoold live?  
Who's the hot blonde? Was Faith serious about sharing her?  
Who's mini-Giles?  
Who's the black guy? Why does he have a gold tattoo on his head? Bet it hurt to get.  
What is the big silver ring? Is that the thing Ganos Lal was talking about? Is that what they use to travel to other planets?

After everyone read the reordered notes. Carter broke the silence. "Sir, who ever wrote this, they seem to know a lot of small details. But nothing concrete."

"They appear to know what each of us look like, but do not know any of our names except yours, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"How come you think that they know what we look like, Teal'c?" Daniel asked.

"They named O'Neill. Major Carter is the hot blonde. You are the mini-Giles, since Dr. Giles is a scholar like yourself. And they described the symbol of Apophis," Teal'c replied. "I also believe the writer of these notes is male."

"What makes you think that, Teal'c?" Daniel asked

"He wrote about sharing Maj. Carter with Col. O'Neill's daughter," Teal'c replied and Sam blushed.

Jack laughed at that. "Well he was right about one thing." The others looked at him. "He wrote 'I am so dead..So so dead.'" Everyone nodded in agreement. Sam vigorously agreed.

"Jack, Ganos Lal may be the name of an ancient," Daniel said.

"What? Are you saying whoever wrote this has talked to one of the ancients?" Sam asked.

"Also they are aware of the fact that Loki is a member of the Asgard and Jack has met him before," Daniel continued. "And they know about the Goa'uld. They even know Ra was an alien and the Goa'uld may attack Earth."

"I am confused by one of the names," Teal'c spoke up. "Why would the writer of this be referring to the Three Stooges?"

Sam spoke up. "I know who wrote this." Everyone looked at her. "When we met Dr. Giles today, his daughter Tara mentioned that his son had a friend named Shemp."

"Sam's right, Jack," Daniel agreed. "And I think Rupert might know who we are as well."

"Why, Danny?" Jack asked.

"When we first met he said 'Oh bollocks!' and then explained it had nothing to do with us but that a friend of his son's had said something recently that just made sense."

"Shemp must be a code name of some kind, Sir. But how does he know about us and the Stargate program? What is going on?" Sam asked.

"Honestly I don't know. But I think I need to meet my daughter," Jack said.

_ 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
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Chapter 2 _

"Honestly, I don't know. But I think I need to meet my daughter," Jack said.

Sam was having a hard time right this minute. She knew what had happened to Jack. How devastated he had been at the death of his son. But the part of her that was Major Samantha Carter, USAF was worried that this was some kind of a trap. "Sir, since it is barely 13:00 hours now I would recommend that we wait to approach the Summers home until this evening. In the meantime, we should update General Hammond on what we have found and read through all the documentation he sent us concerning this agreement."

"Good thinking, Carter," Jack replied. "Set up a secure link to the General. If there is a NID operation here, I don't want to trust that they haven't compromised the base. Let's see about getting this agreement printed out. It'll be easier to cross reference the pages that way."

"Jack, I saw a printer in the back room. It looks old, but should work," Daniel said.

"O'Neil, how would you like me to assist?" Teal'c asked.

"Once Danny gets this printed off, grab a stack of papers and start scanning for anything that jumps out at you," Jack replied. He appreciated Teal'c's willingness to help. He also knew that Teal'c was not familiar enough with Earth culture to find hidden traps in the document.

Twenty minutes later Maj. Carter had the secure line set up. Contacting Gen. Hammond was easier than Jack had expected. Hammond had made sure that his aide, Walter, knew that if Col. O'Neill called he was to be put straight through unless he was talking to the president.

"General Hammond, sir," Jack began. "We have a situation here. We haven't determined it is a foothold situation, but we have determined we have an intelligence breach."

"Go on, Colonel O'Neill. What is the nature of the leak? Is this related to your daughter?" Hammond asked.

"They appear to be connected but we are not sure of all the details," Jack began. "I had Maj. Carter and Danny perform a reconnaissance of Sunnydale this morning. As part of the plan, they made contact with Dr. Rupert Giles. While in his store, they found a piece of paper that has us concerned. It had my name written on it along with notes that they were aware of our contact with the Asgard."

"What!" exclaimed General Hammond.

"Yes, sir. The note said, "Why would Jack know a Roswell Grey?" The questions are all like that, sir. It shows they have some of the pieces of information, but not all of them. They had descriptions for SG1, but only I was named."

"How can you be sure it was describing SG1?" Hammond asked.

"We can't be, Teal'c did point them out. Daniel was described as a 'mini-Giles'; Teal'c pointed out they are both scholars. Teal'c was described as a 'Black man' with questions about the mark of Apophis. And Major Carter was described as a 'Hot Blonde'." Jack finished speaking with a straight face.

'Do you have any idea who could have proposed these questions?" Gen. Hammond asked.

"Yes, sir. Teal'c thought it must be a male, mainly due to the way Carter was described. Daniel thinks it is Alexander Giles. This is due to a conversation they had earlier. Dr. Giles' daughter Tara made reference to Alexander's friend Shemp. One of the questions on the paper was, "Why does Shemp want Jack to introduce me to Loki." Daniel also believes it is possible that Alexander has been in contact with one of the Ancients."

"Can you confirm that, Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"The notes made reference to Ganos Lal talking about something. It had a description of the Stargate. What's more, it was questioning if the Goa'uld would attack Earth, and wondering if Ra was still alive," Jack replied.

"So they have some information; not all of it is up to date; and they may have access to an ancient?" General Hammond summarized.

"Yes Sir, we are planning on approaching Mrs. Summers and Faith tonight to try and find out more information. But based on what they already know and seem to suspect, we may need to be able to disclose more about the program than normal," Jack replied.

"I've already thought about that, Col. O'Neill. I had Maj. Davis looking over the agreement and NDA's here. They would need to sign a small update to include 'Project Bluebook', then you would be able to inform them. I'll have Maj. Davis sends you the list of who this can be applied to." Hammond continued, "I expect if all goes well you are going to have a long night. I'm ordering you and your team to take some down time before going to talk with Mrs. Summers."

"Will do sir. And thank you. We'll have an update in the morning." Jack closed the connection.

Entering the main room, Jack saw that Daniel and Sam were going over an inch high stack of papers. Teal'c had a much smaller stack of forty or fifty pages. "What have you got there, Teal'c?" Jack asked.

"According to Daniel Jackson, the files that were sent to General Hammond included the personal notes of one the members. It is strange. The person is not identified. It seems someone would like to pass this information to you without risking exposure," Teal'c said.

Teal'c returned to reading his notes. Jack looked at the rest of his team and grabbed a stack of papers. Maj. Carter had a stack labeled 'Project Achilles', and Daniel was going over the report of what had happened to expose the project. Jack picked up the biography on Faith Arlene Summers.

The investigators had been good; too good for his piece of mind. They detailed an abusive childhood based on school and medical records. They had also found reasons to believe that Faith had been raped by the age of ten, possibly earlier. This was based on the then boyfriend of the birth mother and changes in behavior.

Jack felt angry. He didn't know if this girl was his daughter, but even if she wasn't she deserved better. Looking at the school picture that showed her at nine years old-a year older than Charlie had been when he died-she looked innocent and sweet. And some depraved bastard had stolen that from her.

Jack didn't want to keep reading but he did. He read about Faith's multiple attempts to run away. He read her juvenile record. Nothing serious and all actions that could be explained by a kid trying desperately to survive. He read of her being fostered with a Dr. Diane Dormer. And how less than a year later, Diane's mutilated body was found in Boston.

The property it was found at was linked to an underworld figure known as Mr. Trick. The man had for almost two decades been consolidating drugs, vice and protection rackets in Boston. It was noted that Mr. Trick left after the body was found and informants stated he had gone to the west coast. Last confirmed sighting placed him in Los Angeles. The was a note that he may have headed for Sunnydale, California based on a limo sighting. The limo was registered to the local offices of Wolfram and Hart. They had been unable to confirm anything through the lawyers.

It was nearing 15:00 hours. Teal'c reminded the team that it would be best to eat before continuing. Jack agreed, "Danny, could you go with Teal'c and pick up some food from the base commissary?" After Danny and Teal'c left Jack turned to Carter.

"Sam, I'm asking as a friend. What do you think?" Jack said.

Maj. Carter was uncomfortable with the question. She and Col. O'Neill worked hard to maintain a relationship within the bonds of UCMJ, which prevented any type of more intimate relationship. Even if they both thought they could have had one if not for their duties.

"Sir,... Jack, I'm not sure what to think. The project that Faith was created by, it's horrifying in its long-term application. It was a super soldier eugenics plan. No consideration was given to the children or families involved. There are some incredible data points that don't make any sense. The project lasted for several years. But even implanting male fetuses not one single birth of a baby was registered. Whatever they did to these children made all the males die. Now I can think of several possibilities that make females more likely to survive, but we need a geneticist to help understand what happened," Sam said.

"And what about the situation here? With this town and the information that these civilians have uncovered?"

"The information they have doesn't make sense either. They seem to know what the Goa'uld are and that they are a threat. They don't know anything current. They are aware of Loki but not Thor? And seem to think that it would be a good idea to contact Loki..Why..." Carter trailed off. "Sir, what is Loki's specialization?"

"Annoying kidnapper?" Jack replied thinking of all the people Loki had surely abducted.

"Aside from that, sir. He's the top Asgard geneticist. The others may not like his methods but from what we can tell they don't deny his abilities. We have a girl who was subject to genetic experimentation. And someone thinks it's a good idea for you to introduce them to Loki. The person who wrote this appears to be involved with Faith. Could it be that they need an outsider to look at Faith's DNA?" Sam concluded.

"Then they're idiots if they think I would let anyone, let alone someone who may be my daughter, be probed by Loki," Jack replied.

"Sir, remember they don't even know that Ra is dead. It could be they don't know any of the other Asgard or if they are available. While they might not be as good as Loki they could certainly spot any problems," Sam replied.

"And if it's some kind of NID shell game, I'm going to kill whoever is responsible. What's more, I don't know what to think."

Sam nodded. She couldn't bring herself to hug him, but she grabbed his hand. "Whichever it turns out to be, I'll help. If she's your daughter I know a few things about teenage girls. If we need to liquidate some NID personnel, I'm with you, too."

"Sam, I hate to ask, but make sure you read her personal file. She was heavily abused. Whatever happens, we need to try and make sure this girl gets any help she needs," Jack said.

Teal'c and Daniel returned while Sam was reading Faith's file. Jack had started reading the anonymous notes about the NDA agreement. After putting most of the food away, Daniel asked, "Anything new?"

Sam replied. "No, just going over what we have so far. Although I don't think Faith Summers will be a very large threat. At least not right now."

"Why do you believe that, Samantha Carter?" Teal'c asked.

"According to the information we have she was in a coma until three or four days ago. She had been in the coma for over six months. No matter what shape she had been in previous to her coma, six months of inactivity have had to have had a severe effect on her."

"That SON OF A BITCH!" Jacks cry had everyone turning towards him. Holding the notes in one hand he started moving, pacing like a caged animal. "I'm going to find a way to kill him!"

"Who do you wish to kill? And why do you wish to kill them, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked

"Kinsey!" Everyone knew and recognized the name of the senator who had been such a thorn in the side of the Stargate project. "He insisted that I not be informed about Faith's existence. He claimed it was so I wouldn't be distracted!" Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c from personal experience knew that animosity that existed between Senator Kinsey and Jack O'Neill.

"I can see him doing that, Jack," Daniel said. "But only if she really is your daughter. If she isn't it wouldn't be worth the effort it would take to screw you over."

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

Sam nodded her agreement. Jack looked at the time. Almost 16:00 hrs. "Alright let's eat some food, then I want everyone to grab some shut-eye. I think it's going to be a long night. We'll approach Mrs. Summers after 19:00 hours.

The food was eaten in a subdued atmosphere. Everyone but Teal'c went to grab a few hours of sleep before this evening. Teal'c used the time to perform Kel'no'reem instead, since as a Jaffa, he had no need to sleep.

As everyone began getting ready to head out they had a quiet discussion on how they should present themselves. The list Major Davis had sent them contained seven names: All three Summers women, the three Giles family members, and Willow Rosenberg. They printed out the additional forms they might need.

Jack and Sam were in full military dress uniforms. Sam had pointed out to Jack that it would be best to show who they were from the start. Daniel wore his regular civilian clothing and Teal'c wore a black shirt and military BDU pants.

Thanks to Sam and Daniel's time spent driving around Sunnydale the address for the Summers home was easy to find. Pulling up to the house, they could see an older model jeep parked outside alongside and an ancient Citroen that looked like it was on its last legs.

Parking their car, everyone got out and approached the door. Jack knocked and waited for someone to answer. From inside he heard a woman call out. "Buffy, that's probably Tara and Willow, would you grab the door?"

Another girl called out, "Yeah, Mom." As the door started opening she was saying, "You guys know you don't need to knock..." On seeing it wasn't Willow and Tara the girl stopped. She looked at Jack standing in his dress uniform. She saw Carter dressed the same and Teal'c and Daniel in the back. She looked at them and didn't look happy at seeing them. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Jack O'Neill" He started to say.

"Dammit!" the blonde interrupted. "Xander won the pool, Mom." She called back into the house.

An older blonde woman came out from the kitchen. Based on the files they had read, it was Joyce Summers.

Jack didn't know what to say. He was not expecting *this* reaction. Carter stepped up. "Major Samantha Carter. May we come in?" The blonde didn't reply; she just stepped to the side and smirked. Remembering what Dr. Giles had said, Sam entered the house. Jack and the others followed.

Joyce was coming up to the group. "You must be Colonel O'Neill," she said. "We've been expecting you."

Jack was at a loss for words. He had anticipated some reactions, but not this one. Luckily Daniel was there. "You've been expecting us? How? We didn't even know we would be coming here until last night!"

The blonde, Buffy answered with a snort. "Faith taunted Murphy. And Xander won the pool. You guys couldn't have waited to come until next week?"

"Buffy!" Joyce said. "That's enough. Please sit down. Buffy, please go get Giles and call Faith and the others." Turning back to Jack, "What can I do for you Col. O'Neill?"

Jack was unsure of where to start, but he thought best to start at the beginning. "I found out this morning that I am listed as the Father of Faith Arlene Summers. And I want to know what the hell is going on!"

Joyce nodded. "Have you seen the report on the project you and I were apparently part of?"

Jack nodded, "'Project Achilles'. I don't want to believe it's true that someone would do something like that. But if it is, I want to meet my daughter. I also want to confirm the DNA tests are valid."

Joyce nodded. "Well, I can certainly understand that." As she had begun talking a light started forming behind her. SG1 was on their feet, ready to react, as the light finished depositing two people. A young man with black hair, who based on photos was Alexander Giles, and Faith Summers: his daughter.

"Not bad this time, Boytoy," Faith was saying. "You're right, it gets easier each time."

"What the hell is going on?" Jack yelled. "How do you have access to teleportation technology?"

Xander looked at the group of familiar faces; his reply was eloquent as always. "Ah Crap!"

Buffy was coming back into the room. She had managed to get a hold of Tara and Willow to warn them, but she couldn't get a hold of Xander and Faith. She saw everyone on their feet, Xander and Faith standing with their backs to her. She started laughing. "Smooth, Xander. Really smooth. But hey, at least you made an entrance they won't forget."

Joyce tried to get the conversation under control. "Col O'Neill, please sit down. We can explain most of this. Unless you'd like to say hello to your daughter, Faith."

Faith, hearing the last words, started to feel panic. He was here, the man who a God had made her dad. What was he going to think of her? She started to turn to run upstairs. Xander held onto her. Pulling her close he whispered, "Hey I'm here, and if we need to run I'll orb us out of here, ok?"

Faith turned to her Father, "Hey, I'm Faith." she said.

Jack walked over to her. He could tell the kid was scared. Whoever she was, his gut said she wasn't pretending. He held out his hand, 'Jack O'Neill. I hope it's good to meet you." She shook his hand, she had a really strong grip. Releasing his hand he shook it. "Strong grip you've got."

She blushed, "Sorry. Sometimes forget my own strength. Who are they?" She nodded to his team.

Just then from the basement, Giles came up. "Sorry to take so long. What's going on?" He was speaking as he entered the room. Seeing Daniel and Sam there he was surprised to see them so soon. But not surprised that they were a group. "Daniel, Ms. Carter, a pleasure to see you again so soon."

Buffy turned to Giles, "You knew they were in town?"

"Well yes, Daniel and Ms. Carter stopped by the shop earlier. I surmised it wouldn't be long before they introduced themselves."

Faith turned to him, "And you didn't warn me?"

"Faith, I do apologize. I meant to say something later, once everyone was here." Giles answered. "I really did not expect them to come here tonight."

Just then the front door opened, Tara and Willow came in holding several bags of Chinese food. They both stopped seeing new people were present. "Ah hi," said Willow.

"Willow, Xander won the pool," Buffy called out.

"Darn it!" Willow said. Turning to SG1. "You couldn't have waited two more days to show up?"

"What's the pool you keep talking about?" Daniel asked. These people were very strange. They weren't at all surprised to see them. And one of them had teleported into the room.

Xander replied, "We bet on when Jack would show up. After Faith taunted Murphy we knew he would be here soon." Daniel, Jack, and Samantha all nodded. They were well aware of what happened when Murphy was invoked.

"Daniel Jackson, who is this Murphy they are referring to?" Teal'c asked.

Daniel started to explain even as the scoobies were all looking at Teal'c. Jack interrupted. "Hold it. Stop! I want to know how the hell they showed up? And how come she's not recovering from a six-month long coma?"

Joyce spoke up. "Col. O'Neill, it's a very long story. If I could make a suggestion, how about we all sit down to eat and we can talk while eating."

Faith spoke up, "I gotta question first. Who's Kinsey? And why is he such a dick?"" Ever since Joyce had said she could ask her dad that when he showed up, Faith had secretly hoped Joyce was right. So she wasn't going to lose the opportunity to ask.

Jack and the whole team looked startled for a moment. Then Daniel and Sam started to laugh.

"She is most certainly your daughter, O'Neill," Teal'c said. This caused Sam and Daniel to laugh harder.

Jack looked at Faith, "Long story, but I think maybe Mrs. Summers is right. Let's sit down to eat and talk." Jack wasn't feeling threatened here. And these people obviously had secrets that might help him and his team.

The entire group headed downstairs. The room just had a better layout for large gatherings. As the food was passed out less formal introductions were made. Sitting down everyone had been told what the preferred names were.

When trying to introduce Teal'c as Murray, Buffy looked right at Jack and said, "You're kidding, right? He is so not a Murray."

"Yeah, the gold tattoo on his forehead just screams not a Murray," Xander said.

"How are you aware of the mark of Apophis, Alexander Giles?" Teal'c asked.

"First, it's Xander, not Alexander. Second, if you guys are honest with us then I'll tell you." Xander replied.

Daniel moved in to negotiate. "You mean if we answer your questions you'll answer all of ours?"  
Xander looked at the others. They had already known that Faith's Dad was going to be important to them. Why else would Shemp point him to them? Faith had just insisted she didn't want to be there when he found out the full truth. She didn't want to risk it.

"Agreed," Giles said. "We will truthfully answer your questions if you do the same."

Jack spoke up, "Before we do that-and we do want to do this-we have some forms you have to sign. Just updates to the NDA's we already have. Otherwise, we couldn't tell you everything."

"Perhaps if you would allow Willow to look over them? Once she is done we can all sign," Giles replied.

"But Giles, I'm really hungry," Willow complained.

"Teal'c," Jack said. "This is Teal'c. Let's let Willow eat, then we can see about signing papers."

Willow looked happy and everyone began eating, keeping conversation to a minimum. As soon as Willow was done eating, she started reading the new NDA's. She was soon done and said, "They look fine. They just allow us to know about "Project Bluebook" and say we can't talk to anybody else about it."

Everyone signed the documents and then they came to the hard part: who starts talking first. Faith spoke up. "Uhm, I think it would be best if Mom and Giles talked with you guys. Then if you still want to talk with me, I'll come back."

Jack had enough experience that he could tell this girl was terrified; terrified of what his reaction was going to be. He wasn't comfortable with her being scared of his reaction. "Faith, you can stay. I promise whatever happens I won't hold it against you."

Faith just looked at him. She shook her head. "If you still say that afterward then we can talk." She moved upstairs. Xander got up to follow her.

"You're going to hear unbelievable things. But you should know, you've got an opportunity to have Faith in your life. And if you hurt her, they'll never find your body." Xander smiled at him.

Joyce said, "Xander!"

"Hey, a vague disclaimer is no one's friend. Besides like you weren't going to tell him something like that." He headed upstairs after Faith. The other three girls went upstairs too. They wanted Faith to know they supported her.

Joyce gave a small laugh at that. 'He's right you know. If you hurt her, they won't find the body parts. If you decide you don't want anything to do with Faith that's one thing. But you don't get to lead her on."

"So I think you get to go first," Jack said.

Giles cleared his throat, "Ah yes. I must ask a few questions first. First are you aware of alternate realities? Worlds that are very close to our own but there can be major differences between that world and ours?"

Jack answered for the team, "Yes, we've had some experience with those."

"Good, that will make some things easier. Are you also familiar with what might be called higher level beings? Some may call them actual gods." Giles continued.

"You mean aliens pretending to be gods?" Maj. Carter asked.

"No, beings of such power that they could rightfully be called gods. Beings who with a wave of their hand could alter reality with a thought." Giles said

Sam was about to argue when Daniel said, "Sam, remember Oma Desala? She seemed to be able to do that. She could at least affect how we perceive reality."

Giles looked at the reactions. It was obvious where he would have to begin. "Some of what I will say has been passed down as oral history, and other things we are only now coming to learn. This world did not start off as a paradise as many holy books say. Instead, it started out filled with beings of unimaginable power. We call these creatures the Old Ones. They ruled here and the humans that existed were nothing more than things they played with."

"No one knows what changed but these beings began losing their grip on this reality. Gradually they were almost entirely pushed out of our world. This allowed mankind to arise. Today only certain vestiges of these beings remain. Certain species of what are termed demons, and certain magics, are all that remain today."

Giles paused, gauging how they were reacting. He could see that Maj. Carter was highly sceptical of demons and magic, but based on what he knew that was to be expected. Teal'c was impossible for him to read. Jack and Daniel at least seemed to be listening with an open mind.

"Many of these beings were from dimensions that we could not survive in. In fact, we would term them "Hell". And to this day some of those beings seek to return. There are places on Earth where the barriers between the dimensions are thin, making it easier for them to attempt to re-open the way. Sunnydale resides on one of the largest of those rifts. It attracts beings who wish to open them. And part of our purpose is to prevent that from happening."

Jack was reading between the lines. He didn't know if he was willing to believe this without proof. But it sounded like those kids were fighting something they had no business fighting. And one of them might be his daughter.

"Long ago, certain wise men, witches, and shamans were able to harness the power of one of these beings. They tied the power to a young girl. We believe it was so that the power would be easier to control. This girl was called the slayer. She was forced to fight the creatures that plagued humanity. Gifted with greater strength, speed and stamina, she alone was able to defeat these creatures. Then when she died the power would pass to the next girl. The cycle has repeated for millennia."

"Over five years ago, Buffy was called as the slayer. She has been fighting these forces ever since then. About four years ago, Buffy was confronted by a being called the Master. He briefly killed her. If not for Xander she would have remained dead. After she was revived and defeated the Master, we discovered another girl had been called. She took up the fight but fell to the hands of our enemies."

Giles could tell that Jack was getting very upset. He hoped he would hear them out. "It was almost six months later that we met Faith. She was the newest Slayer."

Jack had had enough. "You're telling me that those girls are some kind of super warriors? And you expect me to believe this?"

"Actually, I am surprised that you have waited this long to interrupt," Giles said. "I believe that it may be helpful to provide some tangible proof." Going to the basement door he called upstairs, "Buffy could you come here? And please bring our demonstration piece."

A few minutes later Buffy came down the stairs holding an iron rod almost an inch thick and two feet long. "Hey Mom, Giles, so need some proof?"

"Col. O'Neill, please pass the bar among yourselves. Examine it, try to bend it," Giles said as Buffy handed him the bar. He lifted it, tried to bend it. Then passed it to Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c.

"So you all have felt this, right? You can agree it's just an iron bar?" Buffy asked. When they had agreed she put one hand on either side of the bar and as they watched bent it into a circle. Handing it back she said, "Careful, it's hot."

"That's not possible, sir," Sam said. There was no way that this little girl could have just done that. Jack was looking at the bar. Daniel was also shocked.

Teal'c after examining the bar said, "Most impressive, Buffy Summers."

"So need more proof, or are we good for now? If you really want to see something we could spar. Or if Faith is up to it you could watch us spar," Buffy said.

"I believe that should be sufficient for now, Buffy," Giles said. Turning to Jack he continued, "We do not 'let' these girls fight, Col. O'Neill. Because of what they are, their enemies are drawn to them. If they refuse to fight they are killed. And I am sad to say that the average life expectancy of a slayer for more than three hundred years had been six months to a year. Buffy is the longest lived slayer in the last few centuries."

"And if I could remove their callings I would," Joyce said. "Every time they are in danger I wish there was more that I could do."

"Yes, it is, unfortunately, true that most normal humans do not survive long in this fight." Girls sighed. "Buffy and Faith are both extraordinary in that regard. But to return to our tale."

"Several days ago there was a demon who was hunting Buffy. It had a plan to incapacitate her by using a device that split her into two parts. One part would contain the strongest qualities she possessed, the other her weaker characteristics. In this state, if either side of her were to die both would die. It attempted to hit Buffy but instead there was a complication. As a result instead of hitting Buffy, it hit one of her companions. We were not aware of the effect at the time. But instead of splitting him into the two parts, it instead caused an alternate version of him to materialize."

"Why would it react differently with, I am guessing your son, than with anyone else?" Carter asked.

Giles noted that this woman was very intelligent. Even trying to give a simplified version of what had happened, they were still picking up pieces. "Because there is something about Xander's personal energy that causes the energy we term magic to act in unexpected and even chaotic ways."

"Different forms of energy I can understand. But you really can't expect me to believe in magic," Sam said.

Joyce smiled. "No, we don't. We were warned that you, in particular, would have problems accepting the reality we have to show you." She laughed, "In fact, the exact instructions that we got were to "Have fun blowing her mind."

"Well if you expect me to accept magic is real, my mind would have to be gone," Sam stated firmly.

Joyce smiled, "Don't worry. We'll help you get it back before we're done."

"Yes, so this being from another reality was, in his home dimension, what we would term a guardian angel. He was originally a normal human, but he was chosen to assist others by higher beings as something other than a normal human. He was allowed to assist in certain ways but forbidden from truly helping."

"When he arrived here he found he was alone. All those like him were gone. We later learned that they had not been seen on Earth since the time of Ra in Ancient Egypt. Ra and the Goa'uld defeated and destroyed his kind."

At this SG1 was surprised. Giles had just confirmed that he knew Ra was a Goa'uld and that he knew some things that Ra had done while on Earth. Daniel asked, "How do you know about Ra and the Goa'uld?"

"The other Xander met an ascended being calling herself Ganos Lal. She told him about the Goa'uld, how they posed as gods. And that using a device her people had left behind, people from Earth were exploring other planets. And that the Goa'uld were a threat. She also explained what had happened to his people and wanted a promise from him that he would not create more like himself. She told him that his kind would cause the destruction of Earth if the Goa'uld and others of her kind found out that they were back."

"Why? Why would his species result in the destruction of Earth?" Sam asked.

"From what we understand, the Goa'uld look at them as a challenge to their power. Since they pose as Gods, people with the powers that Xander had would challenge that. The others were a group of ascended that also pose as gods. And somehow Xander's people could destroy them. If they become aware of the fact that they existed again, then they would do everything possible to destroy them."

"The other Xander then met another being who was even more powerful. This being can take multiple forms at will. We have reason to believe that on Earth he was considered a Chaos deity. He also gave Xander information. But at the time some of it was misinformation. He made statements that were easily misinterpreted."

"As a result, the other Xander chose not to create any of his people before leaving. He was forced to attempt to return to his original dimension. Being here with his alternate was killing him."

Sam nodded; she remembered that happening to her own alternate. Unless these people had access to all the SGC mission reports it seemed they had received a visitor like they had said.

"Before he left he had already determined that many of us were suffering from several attempts to control our actions. Beings we thought were our allies had been altering our memories so that we would act like they wanted us to. He was determined to fix that. He took us to what he described as a small part of Heaven, and arranged to remove the outside influence. In the process, he also gave us several choices. He offered to grant us certain powers. Whilst there we also did a magic ritual that was designed to bond some of us together as a family. When we left there we did not know exactly what the ramifications of that were. We later discovered that when we attempted to send the Other Xander home, there were changes. When we attempted to merge the two Xander's back together it resulted in a side effect: because one of them was not human, Xander was changed. He was now half human and half whitelighter, we believe. That is the name that the other Xander had for himself."

"After the merging of the two, our Xander met the same being as his other self had. He proceeded to explain certain things. He also left vague hints at what would be coming in the future. And he explained he had taken the opportunity to alter reality."

"One of those changes to reality is why you are here. This being knew what had been done to Faith. She was placed under the complete control of a deranged man. She had no choice but to do everything he told her to do. What's more, due to the nature of the control, until it was broken she thought she wanted to do everything she was ordered to do."

"The Goa'uld are known to be able to do things such as this. Faith Summers must be very strong to have escaped the control placed upon her," Teal'c said. "Master Bra'tac could tell you more, but I have heard the stories."

"Yes. She had help to escape, but she did several things while being controlled that she now feels great guilt for. Among those were killing two people. One at least was a completely innocent man. We found information here that explained those changes. Faith was cleared of any wrongdoing. And we discovered that she was now the biological daughter of Joyce. For myself, I found that I was now the biological father of Xander and Tara. According to this being, who Xander calls Shemp. He said that you Col. O'Neill had previously been targeted by the same beings that tried to control us."

Joyce who had been mostly quiet broke in. "Shemp told Xander that he felt you, Jack, were owed by the universe. Or as he put it, "You were owed one." And because you could help Faith he arranged the changes in reality." Joyce continued, "Faith is terrified right now that because of what was done, you'll hate her. But according to something that we could easily call a God, she is now your daughter. And no matter what you decide to do about that, I am begging you to not hurt her. She deserves so much more than what has happened in her life."

"If this Shemp could alter reality why didn't he get rid of what had happened to her?" Jack asked.

Giles answered. "Even gods have limits. We can only surmise that Shemp was at his limit. Or more likely he wanted to offer new opportunities to us."

"I would like to be very clear we have no way right now to determine the truth of Shemp's statements. But there is a possibility that if your mind has been altered we may be able to restore your true memories." Giles paused. "Shemp claimed that these Powers wanted you to fulfill what they called your destiny. But your family was a hindrance, so they had one of their operatives arrange the death of your son. We were told that the death was not an accident. Your son was murdered." 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
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Chapter 3 _

"Your son was murdered." Jack wasn't really hearing anything right now. Either these people were so full of shit, and delusional too, or they had a source of information that was literally out of this world. And they had just told him that their source had told them Charlie had been murdered.

Jack didn't want to hurt anyone right now. But he needed to get out of here. Because otherwise, he wasn't sure what he would do. He got up from the table. Carter was looking at him. "I need some fresh air. Stay here Carter, all of you stay here. I need to think."

Carter looked at Giles, "Who do you think you are saying something like that to him? When you said you can't prove it is true?"

Giles shook his head. "We debated how much we should tell you all. In the end, we felt we should tell you everything. Even the parts we wanted to keep back. According to Shemp, Jack O'Neill is now Faith's father. As such he will have a target on him. We couldn't in good conscience leave him in the dark. Not with the forces that are against him having already targeted him."

"Do you have any idea what you may have done to him?" Daniel asked. "I met him shortly after his son died. He was suicidal, he took a mission knowing he wouldn't come back to try and escape the pain Charlie's death caused. He walked into the room right after Charlie shot himself."

Joyce looked alarmed. "We'd better make sure someone is watching him." Moving upstairs she called to Buffy and the others. Buffy quickly checked outside. Jack O'Neill wasn't there. "He's gone, Giles."

"Dear Lord. We must find him quickly," Giles said. "Tell the others to start looking and to take their bloody phones. Call here if, when they find him."

"O'Neill is a capable warrior. Why are you concerned about his safety?" Teal'c asked.

"Because Sunnydale is on a dimensional rift. There are creatures that come out at night that prey on normal humans. He will not know they are there until it is too late. And unless someone knows their weaknesses he will not be able to kill them." Giles replied. Joyce had already gone upstairs to tell the others.

As the others came upstairs they could see them getting ready to leave. "Buffy, Willow, and Tara, you head up the street. Faith and Xander take the other direction. Call us as soon as you find him. Giles will take his car to look. I'll wait here for news and to pass information."

"We're going too," Carter spoke up. Daniel and Teal'c nodded their agreement.

Giles looked like he was about to argue. Xander broke in. "No time to argue. One of you go with Buffy, the other with us and the last with Giles." Sam went to Buffy's group. Teal'c went with Xander and Faith and Daniel with Giles.

Heading out Sam suggested they take the three cars. She took the girls in SG1's car. Xander grabbed the keys to the Jeep. Giles and Daniel took Giles' car. They headed out to look for the missing Jack O'Neill.

Jack was walking. He wanted to hurt someone. But Giles has said they weren't able to confirm their information. While their source hadn't lied to them as far as they knew, they only had a possibility to confirm the information. And what would it change if it was true? Charlie would still be dead. But it wouldn't have been your fault. He might have been killed to get to you. But you did not cause the situation where he died.

And if it's true, what then? The voice in his head was clear. Then we find a way to kill whoever was responsible. Whoever did the job and whoever ordered it. They all die.

And the girl? They said some being altered reality, and made it so I'm her dad. The voice in his head asked, and that is different from just suddenly finding out she was yours how? He knew, either way, it would be the same thing. If he wanted to get to know her than he would have to try. Would it be worth it?

Jack might have been upset, but he still had his training. He had kept an eye on his surroundings. He had a general idea of how to get back to the Summers house. And he was feeling calmer. He wanted to find out if they could give him the truth.

He turned around and started heading back. He had some things to clear up. And he still needed the DNA. No matter what the results Faith deserved someone helping her. And if he was her Dad, well maybe that would be alright too.

Walking towards him he saw a couple, young early twenties. They were laughing about something as he approached. Jack was too far away to hear their conversation.

"Look, sweetheart, it's dinner." The man said.

"Seems a little old, don't you think?" The woman replied. "Can't we find one a bit younger. You know how much I love hearing the young ones scream."

"How about after we're done we go up to lover's lane? I bet we could find a nice young couple for dessert?" The man replied.

The woman leaned into him. "That sounds great. And if they're really cute we can play with them first. It gives the blood such a sweet taste."

The couple had stopped walking and were watching Jack get closer. He went to step around them. The man held out an arm to block him. "Where do you think you're going blood bag?" He asked.

"Look I've had a shitty night. I'd suggest you keep out of my way. Otherwise, I'm going to hurt you." Jack said.

The girl laughed, "The human thinks it can hurt us? Honey, would it be alright to break its arms and legs before we eat?"

The man nodded and said, "Anything you want, babe." He turned swinging at Jack.

Normally in a fight, Jack wouldn't go all out. But several things were wrong here. One, the girl had called him "human" like it was an insult. Two, both of them moved like predators. And three, he really wanted to let off some steam.

The guy was clumsy. Jack could tell he was putting a lot of power into his attack but his skill wasn't that great. In fact, he was at best a talented amateur. Grabbing the incoming arm Jack used the man's own momentum to throw him out and to the ground. As he was coming down he landed a kick to the guy's ribs that would at least fracture a few of them.

The girl looked at him and smiled. "So, blood bag, you want to fight. This is going to be so much fun." As she finished speaking her face changed. Her eyes were yellow and her head became deformed. She moved in much quicker than the man had. He underestimated her speed. She was fast, faster than the Jaffa he had fought. When her fist hit his chest he felt like he had been kicked by a mule. Her punch drove him back several feet.

The man was getting up. His eyes were yellow and his forehead was deformed. "We're going to have so much fun with you, blood bag." He said.

Jack was staggered by the last hit. But his years of training, and numerous black ops missions, meant he wouldn't go down easily. He moved toward the woman. Feigning a punch when she moved to block he hit her with a kick that was aimed at her knee. The knee was forced to bend in a way that nature never intended. The woman screamed in pain and rage.

Once she was down for a moment he turned towards the man. As he was turning the guy was already on him. The man threw a punch that if it had connected to the back of Jack's head would have knocked him out. Instead because of Jack turning it grazed off his cheek. Jack grabbed the man's arm as it passed and with his free hand he delivered a strong strike to the elbow. The elbow snapped and even as the man was screaming. He was bringing his other arm around to grab Jack.

Jack tried to avoid the blow. But the man grabbed his upper arm and started squeezing. The pain was immense. This guy was too strong for a human. The man smiled showing fangs. He started to pull Jack in towards him. Jack used his free hand to slam a fist on the guy's ear. He shook the blow off but didn't release him. Jack went for the eyes. Anything that uses their eyes will try to protect them. That worked; the man stopped pulling Jack in and threw him back.

Jack saw the woman had gotten up. And she was barely limping. Jack decided to make one more pass. He needed to at least disable these two so that he could run. He moved towards the man on the same side where he had disabled the guy's arm. As he moved the woman came from his right. She was too fast. She kicked him in the side hitting his hip. A sharp pain ran through Jack as he hit the ground.

Jack was trying to get up. His hip was definitely hurt. He wouldn't be able to outrun these two. As the two creatures, he wasn't sure what they were, moved towards him, from down the street came a car. As the light illuminated the three of them the car horn started honking. The car sped up only to slam on the brakes a few feet from them.

Before the car had fully stopped the rear passengers-side door flew open. A dark haired form jumped out. Jack couldn't see clearly because of the light but he saw the other doors open and two others get out. The figures came into the light. Jack could see Teal'c going towards the man. The girl had already grabbed the woman who had been attacking him. She was faster than anyone he had ever seen. The woman was trying to hit her. Was that Faith? It was Faith.

It was over within five seconds. Faith struck the woman in the chest. She looked down and then crumbled to dust. Faith turned to where Teal'c was trying to take the man. He was doing a good job. But Teal'c wasn't used to fighting these things. He was hurting it, but the thing kept coming. Xander standing to the side called out something, it sounded like legs. A blue light formed around the man's legs. When the light disappeared, so did the man's legs. The guy fell to the ground as he found himself without legs. Jack saw the same blue light appeared around Xander's hands, and for a moment he was holding a pair of legs. Before they crumbled to dust.

The guy on the ground was trying to lever himself up. He was cursing. When Faith walked up to him, he looked at her and said, "Shit, slayer, I heard you were on our side." His face became human looking again as he spoke.

"You heard wrong, asswipe. I was never on your side," Faith said.

Xander called to Faith as he moved to help Jack up. "Don't stake him yet." Faith looked at him like he was crazy. "Hey, this is a teachable moment." Helping Jack to his feet he brought him over to where Teal'c and Faith where.

"So Jack, Teal'c, this is the welcome to Sunnydale moment. Welcome to Sunnydale, home of the Hellmouth. Some of our more outstanding tourist attractions are the many graveyards and the vampires and demons that like to prey on the unwary."

"You're kidding, right, kid?" Jack asked. Aliens he got. He'd met enough of them. But Xander was saying this was a vampire.

"Well, Jack, this is a sorry excuse for a vampire. Notice the lack of blood coming from his missing legs." Xander said. Seeing the vampire was still feisty he called out to Faith. "Faith would you mind breaking both this guy's arms. We wouldn't want him to injure anyone else."

Faith smiled, "Sure thing, Boytoy." She moved towards the vampire who looked very afraid. In less than twenty second its arms hung uselessly from its torso.

"Now Jack, Teal'c, if you would be so kind just check for a pulse. Grab a wrist, he won't mind." Xander thing tried to snarl at them and its face deformed again. But without leverage, it couldn't get at them.

Checking the wrist Jack was surprised at the coolness of the skin. The lack of a pulse confirmed this guy was dead. Jack looked at Xander and Faith, "He's got no pulse and his skin is cool to the touch. You want to explain this?"

Faith laughed. "He did explain it. This is a vampire. A walking corpse, reanimated by a demon. Lives to kill and eat people. Stronger and faster, than a human. Hey since you got that gun you mind shooting him? "

Jack looked at her. He wasn't sure how to respond. He was about to say something when Xander chimed in. "Just to prove a point, You can shoot him for the next week and it wouldn't kill him. Only a few things can kill vamps. Easiest are decapitation or a stake through the heart."

"I'm not shooting him to prove a point," Jack said.

"Fair enough. So, do one of you want to stake him?" Xander held out a wooden stake. "Just make sure you hit the heart. If you don't it won't kill him."

"I believe I would like to attempt this, Alexander Giles," Teal'c said, surprising Jack.

Xander tossed Teal'c the stake. Teal'c grabbed the piece of wood and moving up to the creature in one precise blow struck it through the heart with the stake. He didn't know to remove the stake so when the vamp dusted the stake went with it.

"Not bad T." Faith said. "Just next time pull the stake out so you don't lose it."

"So Jack, you ready to head back to the house?" Xander asked. "Or would you like to meet more of the natives?"

Jack looked down at the dust covering where that vampire had been. "I think we can do the meet and greet another time."

Xander laughed, "Cool, let's go. Faith, call Joyce, let her know we found him." Faith nodded and went to get into the jeep. She grabbed the front seat. Teal'c and Jack sat in the back as they headed back.

Sam and the three young women were in her car driving. They hadn't seen any sign of Jack. The streets were sparsely populated. They had only passed a few people, none of them were Jack.

Sam hoped that one of the others would find him soon. She was also worried about the story that Mr. Giles had told them. He really seemed to believe that magic was real. While she could understand that sufficiently advanced technology could be mistaken for magic, she had a hard time believing a modern, well-educated man would fall for such an obvious mistake.

A phone rang in the back seat. She heard one of the girls, Willow, she thought, answer. She heard Willow say, "OK, that's great. We'll head back then."

"That was Joyce; they found him. Xander's group is taking him back to the house," Willow informed everyone. Sam started to pull the car to the side to make a u-turn and head back. As she did so the headlights shown on two couples walking towards them: Two young women who looked like they could have been cheerleaders and two young men who looked like college athletes.

From the front seat, Buffy said. "Stop the car." As she was unbuckling her seatbelt to get out. Willow asked, "Buffy, what's wrong?"

"Up ahead that's Harmony and Shanice. I need to talk to them before their dates have problems." Buffy replied as she got out of the car.

Oh, oh yeah that's bad." Willow said.

Buffy was already out of the car and moving toward the group. Sam asked, "Why is there a problem, are those guys known troublemakers?"

"No," Willow replied. "Harmony died at graduation. And if Shanice is with her then she's probably a vampire too. Buffy is trying to save the guys."

"Vampire!" Sam said. "You honestly believe that those little girls are vampires?"

Tara spoke up from behind her as she and Willow got out of the car, "Come watch, see for yourself."

Sam couldn't believe these people. She got out of the car determined to make sure no one was hurt. These girls were obviously unstable.

Getting out of the car Buffy moved towards the vamps. "Harmony, Shanice, imagine finding you too out tonight."

"Buffy," Came Harmony's reply. "I haven't seen you since graduation. How have you been?"

"Oh good, much better than you and Shanice. After all, I still have a pulse and can go out in the sun." Buffy replied.

"Wha-What are you talking about?" came a nervous reply from Harmony. Shanice looked like she was getting upset. What was the big deal? There were two of them; they could take down Buffy.

"Hey is she going to join our party?" One of the guys asked.

Harmony turned towards him and slapped him to the ground. She hadn't meant to but seeing Buffy made her nervous. "No! Now be a good meal and shut up!"

The other guy, seeing his friend hit the ground, put there by the little blonde, started having second thoughts; something was weird here. "Hey, are you on drugs or something? Cause I got a scholarship, and I don't want anything to do with drugs."

He picked his friend up from the ground. Buffy replied to his question, "Yeah they're both heavy into PCP. If you don't want to end up in trouble I suggest you leave." The two looked at each other and decided it would be better to get out of here.

Shanice saw their meal running away and was pissed. "Summers, you're going to regret that. I'm really hungry. And since you scared off dinner. I guess you can be the main course." As she was speaking Willow, Tara and Sam came up behind Buffy. "Oh, and look you brought dessert."

"Hey, Willow," Harmony said. Then she remembered what had just happened. Shanice glared at her. "Oh right. You cost us dinner, Summers, so how about if we take your two blonde friends instead? I think that's fair." As she finished speaking she vamped out.

Sam was surprised. First, these two girls were talking in some very sexually suggestive language, wanting to have them for dessert or dinner. Then they both changed. Instead of two attractive girls their foreheads were ridged and their eyes were a yellow color. They now had sharp fangs showing as they smiled.

"I have a better idea," Buffy said as she pulled out a stake. "I dust you and me and my friends go home for cocoa." Buffy moved, she was faster than Sam believed possible. She hit the blonde with something in the chest and turned towards the black girl.

The blonde flew backwards. Because Harmony had been turning as Buffy struck her, Buffy just missed the heart. Shanice wasn't so lucky. Buffy's first strike broke the vampire's arm. Pushing it out and to one side she struck her with the same stake. This one hit home. Harmony, seeing how deadly the slayer was, turned and ran away as fast as she could. She rounded the corner of the house they were in front of and was out of sight.

Sam sam Buffy hit the black girl in the chest. Then she saw the surprised look on the girl's face before she crumbled to dust. "How? That's not possible!" Sam said. "What were those? And don't say vampires, they don't exist."

The three girls looked at each other. "Ok, then, you tell us what they were?" Willow said.

"I don't know but they can't be vampires. They don't exist!" Sam said, her tone indicating that she would force the world to conform to her desire.

Buffy smiled at her. "How about we get back to my house and talk about it there."

"But Buffy, Harmony got away," Willow said.

"What? I missed?" An upset Buffy replied. "Well with Harmony, we'll see her again and I'll make sure she's dust then." Looking at Sam who was still in denial. Buffy said, "How about I drive us home?"

"NO!" Yelled Willow. "I can drive us. But I'm not getting in a car with you driving unless it is the end of the world!"

"I'm not that bad!" Buffy whined.

"Yes, you are," Willow said as they got in the car. Sam didn't even protest as Willow took the keys and drove them back to the Summers house.

Once everyone was back at the house, they all met together. Since most of the story had been told and Jack had calmed down, he asked all of them to stay. "First, you said you may have a way to restore lost memories? I want you to do it." Jack said. He had to know the truth.

Giles replied, "We can attempt to restore your memories if they have been tampered with. However, we can not guarantee anything."

"Fine," Jack replied tersely. "I need to know if there is something there."

"Sir, you're not serious?" Sam said.

"I saw something tonight that I can't explain. If what they said is true this may help. If not, we need to know that too." Jack explained.

"So you're going to let them cart you off somewhere to do who knows what to you?" Sam asked.

"You're more than welcome to watch what we do Major Carter," Joyce said. "After all, I think you'll feel much better in the long run if you watch. In fact, all of you can stay."

SG1 and Willow, Tara and Giles went to the attic. Since it had been designed as a casting place they felt it would be best to cast the spell there. The three of them stood in front of Jack. "After we are done you may be unresponsive for a bit. If there are memories to restore your mind will need to reprocess them. So please no one panic if that happens," Giles said.

Chanting poetry. Sam was not impressed. However as they chanted a glow formed between their joined hands. They had each put their right hands together; the glow was centered on their joined hands. As they finished the glow shot from their hands and hit Jack in the head. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, then Jack's eyes went glassy and he collapsed to the ground.

Sam reached him first. She quickly checked his vitals. His pulse was faster than expected but not dangerously so. His pupils were completely unresponsive. But his eyes were moving as if he was in a REM sleep phase.

Teal'c turning to Daniel said, "Daniel Jackson, you said that witches and vampire did not exist?" Daniel nodded yes. "I believe you may need to reexamine your belief."

Sam having heard that turned towards the two of them, "You can't be serious? It had to be some kind of technology they are using."

Willow, Tara, and Giles all laughed at Sam's statement. Seeing Sam was getting upset Willow explained, "You don't understand. Shemp specifically mentioned how hard it would be to convince you. We were laughing because we hadn't believed him. We all thought after seeing everything you have tonight you'd be at least a little bit convinced."

Tara added, "You realize we are going to have to make a pool; to see what it will take?"

Willow and Giles nodded their heads. From the other side of the room, Teal'c said, "Tolerance Giles, I would like to join this pool." Sam looked at Teal'c like she couldn't believe he would do that.

Daniel laughed at her look and said, "I want in on the action too."

As the beam of light hit Jack, he was sure nothing happened. No new memories; zilch. Then he felt his head pounding. He knew he was falling. But he fell into a memory. He tried not to remember that day. He knew it was his fault that Charlie had died. After the return from Abydos, he refused to dwell on it anymore. It was just too painful.

He saw the day. He and Charlie had gone to the gun range. He was teaching Charlie gun safety. Charlie listened and carefully followed every rule Jack gave him. He watched as they drove home. Charlie was excited and happy to have spent time with his Dad. He was proud of the shots he was allowed to fire under Jack's guiding hand.

When they reached the house Sara wasn't home. Jack went to put the guns back in his gun safe. As he opened the safe door he was struck from behind. The blow carried a lot of force. He went down to the ground. Jack could feel himself fighting not to pass out. He must have been hit with a club.

Jack partially turned and saw a man there. The guy looked like he was stuck in the seventies. He muttered some words and Jack couldn't move. Then he spoke, "Sorry about this, Jack. But you haven't been paying attention. You're supposed to be going back on active duty. Not looking to retire and move into the private sector." Jack struggled but couldn't move "I know you just want to be a good father and husband. But you see, you have a destiny. And that requires you to stay in the Air Force. So I'm really sorry about this. But you should know it's your own fault."

He saw the man go out of the room when he returned Charlie was with him. Charlie's eyes were sightless. He was walking like a puppet. The man spoke, "Ok, Charlie, listen to old Uncle Whistler. Pick up the gun. It's just a toy gun, you can see that right?"

Charlie picked up Jack's gun. "Good boy. Now turn it towards yourself. See, it's a water gun. Just spray some water in your face." Charlie turned the gun towards his face and squeezed the trigger. Jack was screaming but no sound came out. The bullet hit Charlie. Charlie fell to the ground. His eyes were clear for the second that he was still alive. Jack saw the light go out of his son's eyes.

Whistler turned back to Jack. "Well, Jack, I know right now you're thinking, I'm going to find you and kill you. Right? Here's the thing, you won't even get to remember this. As far as you're concerned, you came home and meant to put your gun away but got distracted. Then poor little Charlie shot himself." The bastard laughed. "Don't worry, you won't suffer too long in a few months. You'll be following your destiny. And hey, you won't ever know the truth."

Whistler said some words and Jack could see what he had remembered happening. It covered up his real memories. But now he had both. He felt himself falling again. His eyes snapped open. Sitting up he said, "Who's Whistler? How do I find him? How can I kill him?"

Everyone gathered around. Jack had a determined look in his eyes. He explained what he had remembered. And asked his questions again.

Giles started, "Whistler introduced himself as a balance demon. He claims to work for a group of higher level beings called the Powers that Be. The Alternate Xander believe these beings were known in his home universe as the Angels of Destiny. He said they were known to be utterly ruthless when they wanted a plan to happen a certain way."

Tara continued. "We don't know where he is right now. He attacked us at the Magic Box. But the other Xander was there and he saved us. Before Whistler disappeared he was really hurt. The lightning blast Xander hit him with had burned so much skin that we could see bone showing through."

"How did he get away," Jack asked.

"He can teleport like Xander. They don't look the same, though. Xander's looks like balls of light. Whistlers looks like a mirage in the desert that just evaporates." Buffy said.

The other me wasn't sure if Whistler survived or not. He said unless there was outside help. And Whistler needed a lot of help he would probably die. But this isn't our first trip around the Hellmouth. We think he's still alive somewhere. And until we find his body we are going to assume he is alive and waiting to get revenge." Xander replied.

"Good," Jack said grimly. "I want to kill him. I want to see him suffer before I let him die. He killed my son right in front of me and gloated about it. He boasted and laughed that I would never be able to do anything to him or the Powers he works for. I want to know how to kill them all."

Looking at the time Giles said, "Buffy, Faith, and the others need to go on Patrol. That will take several hours to cover the most ground. I would recommend that we adjourn for the night. We can discuss more in the morning."

Teal'c spoke up, "I would like to accompany this Patrol. I am interested in seeing how one fights Urak Ha'taaka. I would also like to observe the fighting styles of Buffy and Faith Summers."

"Sure big guy, come along."Faith replied before anyone could object. "What weapons are you good with?"

"I saw you had several staves in your attic. I am proficient with those." Teal'c said.

"Cool so anyone else want to come along?" Faith asked.

Sam was torn she didn't believe that anything shown was magic, but she needed to study what they had seen. If this was a setup than the more she could observe, the better.

Jack was still walking with a limp from earlier, so he declined to go.

Daniel thought about it but decided to stay and examine some of the books Giles offered to let him read. While Teal'c and the others left Daniel opened up a book titled Vampyres.

Sam was sitting nearby. Giles had offered her a copy of Xander's description of his meeting with Shemp to read. She was going through it trying to make sense of it. Reading it was causing a headache, something that Sam was not used to. It was completely insane.

Once the group had left Joyce turned to Jack. "Col. O'Neill have you thought about what you want to do? Do you want to get to know Faith or not?"

Jack looked at her for a moment. "Even before I met her. I read the report on Faith. I could tell she's been heavily abused. I told Carter no matter what we found, we needed to make sure she got help. Now you've told me a god-like being changed the universe to make her my daughter. That may or may not be true. But I know that if I want to get to know her it wouldn't matter. It's the same steps involved. So yes, I would like to spend time with her. But I also need to know what you believe really happened not what these reports say happened."

Joyce nodded. "I have to warn you of a few things we have discovered. All of the children who we adopted have found subtle changes in how they think. They find it very easy. In fact, too easy, to call Giles and me, Mom or Dad. If the same thing holds true for Faith and yourself, she won't even notice when she calls you Dad."

That shocked Jack. He hadn't thought that would happen. He wasn't sure how to take the news. The only one who had ever called him Dad was Charlie. And while the guilt he had carried was gone. He had a huge pool of anger that had replaced it. Would he be able to treat Faith right if she called him Dad?

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Jack said. "Now tell me what you think really happened before all of this."

Joyce took most of the next two hours to tell Jack everything she knew about the life of Faith Lehane. She confirmed the fact that Faith had been sexually abused. She explained the accidental death of Allan Finch and how Faith had been placed under the control of Richard Wilkins. She explained Faith's relationship with Xander. And the reaction Xander had when she had the sex talk with them. Jack found himself laughing. He agreed with Joyce's decision to get Faith's promise to abstain from sex for the first three months. Part of him wanted to go off on the young man. He was over eighteen, and Faith was sixteen. Another part of him recognized that they were soldiers, and more mature than their peers because of it.

Joyce didn't get everything covered. But she covered most of the past. By the time the Teal'c and the kids got back. He was surprised that Willow and Tara weren't with them. They explained they had dropped them off at the dorms.

Jack was surprised that Teal'c gave the girls a bow, "You are both most impressive warriors. I look forward to training with you." Turning to Xander he said, "After seeing your abilities Alexander Giles I can understand why the false gods would be threatened by them. You would be a valuable ally in the fight against the Goa'uld."

Jack went to talk to Faith. He noticed Xander refused to leave her side. After hearing the story he felt strangely good about that. "Faith," he began. Faith immediately tensed up. She was sure this is where he would reject her. "I would like to get to know you better, whether or not some god-like being set this up. If you'd like, I want to be your friend. And maybe someday we could say we're family. I don't expect you to call me Dad or anything like that. But I'd really like the chance to get to know you."

Faith looked like she had just been floored. Tears started to come down her cheeks as she smiled. "I'd like that." She held out a hand and said, "I'm Faith Summers. And a crazy god says you're my Dad. Glad to meet you." As she finished speaking Xander gave her a shove from behind that had her falling into Jack. Jack tried to catch her and ended up half catching her half hugging her.

She looked up at Xander and said, "I will make you pay for that."

Xander just laughed and said, "Sure you will, if you can catch me." She started to get up and the kid disappeared into blue lights.

"Xander!" Faith yelled only to hear him laugh from the other side of the room.

"Patience, Faith," Jack said, "Revenge is best served cold and when it is least expected." Faith looked at him and smiled. From across the room, Xander felt a chill go up his spine.

Just so everyone can know Thank you so much for the positive feed back, I really do appreciate it. Chapters 4, 5, & 6 are already written. And Chapter 20 of the main line is half-way done. Writing these has felt like I was DM'ing a game. DMG open for loot table and the Monster Manual open for stats looking back and forth between the two.

Also if you have not read the first story in the series some things may not make sense.  
s/12073782/1/Xander-and-the-Ferula-Gemini

PeanutGallery59 If Jack had been in Faith's life since birth Xander would have been so dead. As it is, you'll have to see how the relationship works out.

grd, What will happen to Kinsey I find strangely poetic. I know what will happen just not sure of the when.

Nedy Rahn, So Far the next chapters are over 26k words. on this story.

SeanHicks4, Whistler was one of those things sitting in my brain. I just had to get it out. Also if you look at a picture of the Source form Charmed and compare it to Sokar in SGC there is a strange resemblance. That story will need to wait a bit because of the fact that I need the rest of the time-lines to sync up.  



	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Thank you to hpssslashfan for recommending the story.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

hr/

Chapter 4

hr/

As SG-1 returned to the Sunnydale base, Daniel pointed out how based on the book Rupert had loaned him, the reactions of the guards made a lot more sense. As did the distinct style of decoration found on the base housing.

Arriving at the house, Jack said, "I know it's early in the morning, but I want your preliminary thoughts. Teal'c, you first."

"They appear to be powerful beings. While accompanying the younger ones tonight, I witnessed Alexander Giles perform multiple examples of teleportation. He was able to remove body parts from several of the vampires we fought from a distance. He was not as skilled at hand to hand combat." Teal'c continued, "The two young women Willow Rosenberg and Tolerance Giles did not engage in combat. I did not have the opportunity to evaluate their skills."

Teal'c began after a pause, "I believe both Buffy and Faith Summers are Hoktar. They exhibited advance physical strength and speed. I am unsure how long they have been training, but they showed great ability in combat. However based on my viewing of them they are in need of training. Their speed and power have caused them to be less than they should be with their skills."

"So Teal'c, you're saying they were sloppy?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, I believe they have a vast amount of knowledge but have never had a true master teach them. They have picked up bBad Habits/b", Teal'c replied.

"How do you think they would do compared to regular Jaffa?" Sam asked.

"If it was only using hand to hand combat, they could easily take out a large group of Jaffa. However, I am doubtful they would do as well against Zat'nik'tel or Staff weapons. I also have not had the opportunity to observe them using firearms," Teal'c said.

"Danny, what's your take?" Jack asked.

"Honestly Jack, I am out of my depth," Daniel replied. "I know from a historical perspective the stories and myths of multiple cultures. Being told it could be or is all real, it's going to take a while to figure out. That being said, Rupert has volunteered to let me look over any of his books and answer any questions I might have."

Jack turned to Sam. "Tell me what you think."

"Sir, they honestly believe they possess some kind of magic. And so far I am struggling to find ways to scientifically explain how they are doing the things we have seen. If the two Summers girls are Hoktar that could explain the physical abilities. But the teleportation that Xander has shown, unless they are hiding Asgard level technology I can't explain how he's doing it. We also have the light that was visible when they performed the "Spell" earlier tonight. I was watching and none of them were holding anything that would produce it." Sam paused, collecting her thoughts.

"And the account that Xander wrote about his meetings with this Shemp and the meetings with Ganos Lal. Sir, he described the stargate perfectly. And according to what he said Ganos Lal said, she has to have been an Ancient. She said her people built the stargates."

"We know that the Ancients were more advanced than us. Physically and technologically. Could they be Ancients? Or part Ancient?" Jack mused. "Although that makes me want to call Thor to have him check them out."

"So you're thinking that their physical abilities could be a result of advanced genetics?" Sam asked. "We don't know enough about the Ancients to know what we don't know. But we do know from the work Nitri was conducting that she was able to trigger psychic abilities in humans. Their abilities could be similar. And as a result, we just perceive that as 'Magic'." Sam was much happier with this line of thought.

"O'Neill, do you believe that they truly restored lost memories?" Teal'c asked.

Jack paused. "Yes, yes I do. I have beaten myself up with guilt for years. I have never been unsafe with any weapons before that day. I thought how could I have done that. I wished I had followed through on my intentions to begin teaching Charlie gun safety. And what I remember rings true. It's more consistent with what I know of my past actions." Jack was trying to be very concise with his explanation. He knew that what he remembered could also be explained as a kind of wish fulfillment.

"Sir, are you sure?" Sam began. "I mean from a psychological point, it could easily be that your new memories are the result of a type of denial."

"I'm as sure as I can be, Carter," Jack replied. "But I agree it could be exactly what you're thinking. The question would be why? What do they gain by doing something like that? Or if not them, then who gains by manipulating my memories? They had already told us that reality as we know it has been altered. If someone was capable of that, why would they need to further alter my memories?"

The team nodded in agreement. While several scenarios presented themselves, the overall need to do that based on what they had learned did not make plausible sense. "Alright, let's get some shut-eye. I want us to regroup with them in the morning after we talk with the General."

hr/

The next morning after eating the entire team gathered to contact General Hammond. The General had been waiting for their call, so they got through to him right away.

"SG-1, good to see you're all looking well. What can you tell me about what you have found?" General Hammond said.

"Sir," Jack began. "We made contact last night. And quite frankly what we have found so far is unbelievable. In fact, I'm not sure we should be reporting this on any type of long distance communication. However, we have determined that the group, including my new daughter, may have had contact with an Ancient. As well as one or more advanced beings."

"What?" was Hammond's startled reply. "You're sure of this?"

"Based on the information they have provided," Sam began. "They did not call her an Ancient, but the being we believe to be one told them that the stargate was created by her people."

"Do they have a means to contact this person again?" Hammond asked.

"Unknow at this time, Sir," Jack replied. "We were with them until late in the evening. Today we will be meeting again and telling them about our project. Hopefully, from there we can see if they are able to provide a contact."

"Col. O'Neill, I want you to do everything possible to ensure this goes well. However, I also want you to get us blood samples if possible from the entire group. We still need to confirm that Faith Summers is your daughter." Hammond said. "If necessary you may need to fly back if you believe our connections are not secure enough."

"O'Neill, would it be possible for Alexander Giles to assist in this?" Teal'c had been contemplating the strategic advantages someone with the power to teleport without a ship or ring system could have. This seemed to be a perfect test case.

Jack looked startled at the suggestion. Hammond looked confused; he had no idea of what Teal'c was referring to. "Sir, Teal'c just brought up a very interesting idea. We will need to discuss it with them to see if it's feasible. If it is, well it will be … fun," Jack finished, not really sure how to describe the chaos he could see happening from Stargate command's learning that someone had the ability to teleport. If Xander's ability would work.

"Sir, we will need to verify some information and then get back with you. It may take several hours," Jack said.

"Alright Jack, I'll inform Walter to get you through to me when you make contact," Gen. Hammond replied. "Good luck, SG-1." With those parting words, the connection was severed.

Sam started talking first. "Teal'c, are you thinking that Xander could teleport into the mountain?"

"Indeed," Teal'c began. "We have witnessed him 'orbing', as he calls it. He has had Faith Summers with him when he has done so. If he could transport Col. O'Neill with him, General Hammond would be able to receive a direct report and demonstration of the abilities that we have seen."

"Sir, we will need to be very careful with any reports that are made regarding Xander. According to the account he made of his talk with this Shemp, Shemp said Xander was now his own species. His blood work may not show up as Human, or it's possible he will show as half human."

"That might be an even better reason. If he is capable of teleporting more than one person at a time he could bring everyone to the mountain. We could draw blood there and keep it secure." Daniel said.

"Well, I think we know what we need to ask after our big talk today. Let's get going and try and meet up with them. Danny, would you call Rupert to make sure they are available? I would prefer to meet at the Summers' house again."

"Sure thing, Jack," Daniel said. He quickly called Giles, after a brief conversation he said, "They can meet us in forty-five minutes."

Fifteen minutes later SG-1 left to meet with everyone at the Summers home.

hr/

Arriving at the Summers home they were greeted by Tara at the door. She stepped back allowing them to enter. Daniel commented, "I thought vampires couldn't come out during the day?"

"Well, generally that's true. But we have encountered at least one artifact that allowed a vampire to survive in full sunlight," Giles explained. "Also it's never a good idea to get out of the proper habits."

Entering into the house they saw everyone was there. There were several boxes of pastries, which Mrs. Summers encouraged them to eat. The team grabbed some basic snacks and everyone headed downstairs.

"Alright, I think it's our turn," Jack began. 'I'm going to let Daniel begin, he's done this enough times he has it down pat." Jack grinned at Daniel as he turned the floor over to him.

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel replied. "In nineteen twenty-eight, a dig on the Giza Plateau uncovered a strange cartouche. When the cover stone was removed, that found a large circular object of unknown origins. The object which we call the "Stargate". Daniel was suddenly interrupted.

"Oh my," said Giles.

"You guys are Stargate Command?" Was Xander's outburst.

"What?" Said a surprised Sam.

Jack's response was more direct, "How the hell do you know about Stargate Command?"

Buffy looked at Xander, "Good one, Xander. I'll let you explain this."

"Well, we didn't until two nights ago." Xander began. He proceeded to tell them what they had learned from interrogating Buffy's former boyfriend. Buffy was very insistent that he was going to be a former, pain-filled, boyfriend very soon. [See Xander and the Ferula-Gemina Chapter 16]

Sam, Daniel and Teal'c all looked at Jack. Since he was the commanding officer it would be up to him to take the lead. Jack started off eloquently as always. "Well, Shit!"

Faith, Xander, Daniel and even Giles chuckled at that. Buffy, Tara, Willow and Joyce all had small smiles on their faces. Sam rolled her eyes. And Teal'c was his normal stoic self. Although Joyce did say, "Really, Jack." Jack had insisted that she start calling him by his first name earlier when they arrived. "Remember, you are setting an example."

"Somehow I think Faith and the others already know how to curse. Although I may be able to broaden their vocabulary to include some Goa'uld curses as well," Jack replied.

"Fuck yeah!" Was Faith's enthusiastic reply. However as Joyce looked at her she said, "Sorry Mom." Teal'c raised one eyebrow at that. Somehow he did not believe Faith Summers was truly sorry.

"Ok well, one of the things we came down here to investigate was a request for information that was posted. Asking for anything involving Ra, Jaffa, and teleportation."

Willow sat up, "Oh my post? From the other day when we thought the other Xander was a fallen angel instead of an angel like we found out."

Jack looked at her, "Did anyone follow that?"

"Understanding Willow babble is a skill that takes many years to master," Xander said in a sage tone of voice.

"Indeed?" Teal'c commented. "I understood precisely what Willow Rosenberg said. But what is an Angel and why was it important that the angel had not Fallen?"

Xander looked shocked and impressed. In fact, everyone looked impressed at Teal'c's ability to understand Willow.

Giles decided to try and answer Teal'c's question. "An angel in most myths is a celestial being of incredible power. They were created by actual Gods. They were the primary forces for battling the greatest evils imaginable. According to Christian myths, one-third of them fell from grace and became dedicated to evil, and the destruction of the human race."

Teal'c nodded, "I see. So you felt you were facing one of these creatures, but why were you looking for information about the false God Ra?"

"Our source told us ancient legends she had learned from the demon communities that said Ra had a way to defeat the angels. We were hoping at the time to track down what those methods might be."

"Wait, you're saying Ra encountered people with the same abilities as Xander and defeated them?" Jack said.

"Jack, Ganos Lal said that the Goa'uld destroyed whatever race Xander is," Daniel reminded him.

"Oh right," Jack said. With everything that was going on it was easy to see how he had overlooked that. "Back to this 'Initiative', I'm betting that they are the N.I.D. group we heard rumors about. And if they think Faith is a Goa'uld then we might have some problems."

"Yeah, I don't think they'll take Teal'c's word that she's not," Daniel said.

"What?" Was the general response of the Scoobies.

"Jaffa can sense the presence of a Goa'uld symbiote," Sam explained. "So Teal'c would know if one of you had one inside of them. Sir, do you think we could get General Hammond to contact this initiative group and get them to back off?"

"It would take time and I'd much rather we make sure that Faith and all of you are safe in the meantime. In fact, if it's possible we may have a way to do that," Jack said. "I was going to bring up an idea if Xander could do his teleporting thing,"

"Orbing; it sounds cooler," Faith said. "Plus people won't know what we're talking about."

Jack looked at her, "Fine, if Xander could orb all of us to the mountain, we could do the blood work we need to do and report to the General. Also if we are gone for a day or two that would be safer. With you all out of the state, then they can't kill or capture you."

"I can't go." Buffy said, "We can't leave the Hellmouth unprotected. And I don't think the Initiative is up to keeping it safe. But Faith should go."

"What?" Faith said, "I'm the only one they aren't willing to kill."

"But Faith, if you're not around then they would know that taking us out wouldn't help," Willow said. "Not that it's your fault because it totally isn't It's their fault for thinking you're a snake alien and their just poopy heads for wanting to capture and dissect you." Willow babbled as she wanted to make sure that Faith knew she wasn't blaming her.

"Whoah hold on," Xander said. "I'm not even sure I could do what Jack said. And would be being stuck in a base somewhere be any safer?"

"If you can't orb there we can get you guys on a plane and do it that way," Jack said. "But yes, it would be much safer. The N.I.D. would have to go through General Hammond to get at Faith. And once Frasier runs some tests she can submit proof that Faith is human. And with your abilities, if anything does go wrong you should be able to get her out," Jack concluded.

"Xander, I think that this is a good plan. But I would recommend that only Faith, Joyce and yourself go. I will need to stay to work with the Watcher's Council. Tara and Willow should be fine here. And Buffy is needed. In addition, if we needed you, we can call you, and you should be able to orb back here. If you can orb as far as wherever Stargate Command is," Giles said. "I will inform the watcher and his team that Joyce had gone into hiding with Faith and you are accompanying them."

Joyce added, "I think Giles is right, we came very close to losing Faith the other night. I want her to be safe. I know I can't make you safe from demons. But this would help protect you from the Government."

"Alexander Giles, Faith Summers," Teal'c began. "I myself was protected from the N.I.D. by General Hammond. He refused to let them take me. He would do the same for you."

Xander looked at Faith, "You ok with this?" He wouldn't do it if she didn't want to go.

Faith thought for a minute. "Would you guys be able to do anything about the Initiative? If they already know about you could you get them to back off?"

"It will depend on who is actually in charge. But we can take the briefs on Project Achilles and try to put additional pressure on them to leave you alone," Jack said. "And if some of you are here I want to get a medic from the base to come here. We will need blood samples to prove none of you are Goa'uld." No one looked happy at that, but they could understand the reasoning.

"Then I'll do it. But only a few days. I'm not going to hide from them. I just got the best life I could get and they ain't taking it!" Faith said.

"I'll try to orb there then. But I'll need a really clear picture of where to go," Xander said.

Jack smiled, "No problem kid. Carter, break out the laptop, let's make a connection. If the General is ready for us we can try now."

Sam hooked up the equipment and was quickly connected to General Hammond.

"Colonel O'Neill, what can I help you with?" General Hammond asked.

"Sir we wanted to test something," Jack said. 'If you would please point the camera at the room you're in. We need to get a good view of the entire room." George Hammond didn't even ask why. The past few years had taught him that with SG-1 it was sometimes better not to know.

George heard Jack speaking to someone off camera. "You got enough, kid?"

"I think so, but for this first trip I'm going alone." The other voice replied.

A moment later George Hammond was startled to see blue lights beginning to form in his office. "Colonel O'Neill, what in the Sam Hill is going on here?"

"Sir, if you're seeing blue lights everything is fine," Jack replied. " And hopefully, I'll be explaining very shortly." As Jack was speaking the lights faded and revealed a young man. "Kid, can you come and pick me up?"

"Yeah Jack, I should be able to, just give me a moment," Xander said. He looked at the General who was staring at him. "Ah hi," Xander gave a short wave. "I'll let Jack explain," he said as he was covered in blue light again, and disappeared.

It was less than a minute later that the lights were back. Only this time instead of the young man, it was Jack and the young man. "Colonel O'Neill, you have better have a damn good story to tell to explain how and why you have compromised base security!" Hammond said.

Jack smiled at George, "Sir, I've got a really long story to tell you but I think It would be a good idea, to get Carter and Teal'c here as well. Danny's going to stay with Xander's family. But we also want to bring Joyce and Faith Summers here. And get a medic to the others so that they can draw blood for DNA testing."

George reached for the top drawer of his desk, opening it, he pulled out his antacids. He knew he would be needing them today. Hitting his speaker, "Walter, please ask Dr. Fraiser and a nurse to meet us in conference room one."

Walter to his credit didn't even look surprised when General Hammond left his office with Colonel O'Neill. He did ask the General, "Sir, will you be needing extra visitor badges?" when he saw Xander.

Hammond stopped. "Yes, in fact, I think it might be best if you sit in on this meeting. We may be having a few guests staying with us."

Walter nodded. "Yes, Sir." He followed the rest to conference room one. Dr. Fraiser quickly arrived with one of her nurses in tow.

Entering the room she saw the General, Col. O'Neill, Sergeant Harriman and an unknown man. "General, Captain Fraiser and party of one reporting as ordered." She saluted as she reported in.

General Hammond returned the salute, "Doctor, I wanted you to be here because Col' O'Neill has just returned to base. And we are apparently going to need you to run tests on SG-1 and the people he has contacted."

"I wasn't aware that SG-1 had left on any off-world missions, Sir," Janet Fraiser said.

"Dr. Fraiser, that is because they were not on any off-world missions. You'll be given the full brief on their mission. But right now we need to find out what Colonel O'Neill is needing from us."

"Sir," Jack nodded at General Hammond. "We have determined that currently there does not appear to be a Goa'uld foothold in Sunnydale. What there is, well Sunnydale sits on an inter-dimensional breach. According to what we have learned this has several side effects. Rupert Giles works with a team to try and contain these breaches. It also appears the N.I.D. has set up a base to study the beings that are drawn to the breach. And they have decided that Faith Summers is a Goa'uld."

"Colonel O'Neill, isn't Ms. Summers the young woman who is reportedly your daughter?" Janet asked.

"Yup, it gets better. Teal'c thinks both the Summers girls are Hoktar. And I have to agree with him. In fact, everyone in their group is above human normal." Jack said.

"Hey!" Xander broke in, "We're human, well everyone else is. And I'm mostly human, well half human." Time to see if Teal'c was right. He wouldn't bring the others here if they reacted badly.

General Hammond looked at Jack, "Explain that statement, Colonel O'Neill."

"Well sir, their group has had contact with the ancients, and an alternate dimensional counterpart to Xander Giles. The counterpart was no longer human. And it seems when they tried to send him back to his original dimension, it altered Xander. That's one of the things we'd like Janet to cheeck. But the important thing is they are not a threat. In fact, based on the information they have given us, and what we have seen in Sunnydale, they've saved the planet several times from extra-dimensional threats."

"You're telling me that this group has had contact with one of the ancients? Are they still in contact with this person?" Hammond asked.

"It was the dimensional alternate that had contact with an ancient named Ganos Lal," Jack said.

"I haven't tried to contact her. She said she'd keep an eye on us for a day or two after mini-me left." Xander added.

"Mini-me, son?" George asked.

"Well yeah he was me but he looked like he was seventeen. I know he was actually older than I am now. But I'm the local and we couldn't keep calling us both Xander," Xander explained.

"Col. O'Neill, I take it that the N.I.D. is causing a serious threat to them at this time," Hammond asked.

"They decided that it would be alright to kill all of us except Faith, as long as they captured her," Xander replied.

"He's right, sir. They interrogated one of the N.I.D men. The plan was to capture or kill all of them except Faith; they would only try for capturing her," Jack said.

"And all of these people are US citizens?" Hammond asked.

"Well, Dad's not," Xander said. "But we have the paperwork so that he can apply for dual-citizenship." Maybe that's why Shemp put it in the box, he thought.

"So if I understand correctly, the N.I.D. has set up a secret base on US soil, to run programs that include the capture or death of US citizens?" Jack could hear the anger in Hammond's voice. Xander, because he was not familiar with George Hammond, didn't hear the anger but he could feel it coming off of the man.

"Yes, Sir,"Jack replied. "We were hoping that by removing Faith from the picture, for now, it would stop any attack plans. But we need your help to pull it off. Not to mention if you pull some strings in Washington."

"Permission granted, Colonel O'Neill," George said. "And I want everything you can get me on this illegal operation. Do whatever you need to do to aid these people. As soon as I have the information I will start by talking to the President."

Xander was impressed, he could feel the General was telling the truth. He also could see the fire in the man's eyes. He decided he would help with Jack's plans.

'Thank you, Sir, We are going to need accommodations for Joyce and Faith Summers, as well as Xander here. Because of the dimensional rift that is located in Sunnydale, the others are refusing to leave it unguarded. So Xander will take back a medic so that we can get blood and tissue samples," Jack said.

"Tissue samples? You're not cutting us up!" Maybe I was wrong Xander thought.

"No," Janet interrupted. "We just need a swab from the inside of your cheek. The cheek cells will give us what we need."

Xander blushed, "Sorry but I already know that Professor Walsh wants to dissect Faith. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to wait till Faith's dead to do the whole alien autopsy thing on her."

"Professor Walsh?" Janet asked.

"She seems to be the person in charge of the Initiative project," Jack replied.

"Yeah she is a psych Professor, slash mad scientist. She's the one Riley reports to and seems to be ordering him around," Xander supplied. "So is this the person who I'm taking back to Sunnyhell?" He pointed to the nurse who had come in with Janet.

"Taking back?" Janet asked.

Jack nodded, "Part of the changes that Xander experienced left him with some abilities. He can teleport and bring someone with him. I want him to take back nurse," he had to look at the name on her uniform, "Lt. Evans to get the samples. He can have her back here today."

"Alright," Janet said. "Lt. Evans, please prepare everything you'll need for taking blood work and cell samples from...How many people Col. O'Neill?"

"Four, the other three will be here," Jack replied.

Lt. Evans nodded. "Right away, Ma'am. Should I return here when I'm ready?"

"I think that would be best. Carry on, Lieutenant," General Hammond said.

After the Lieutenant left, General Hammond said. "Son, I realize you don't have much reason to trust us here. I hope we can change that. Once your people are here, I will want to talk with the members of Col. O'Neill's team. I'm not trying to hide anything from you. But quite frankly I don't even know the right questions to ask yet. While we are doing that I would like to have Dr. Fraiser run a full physical on all of you. These are the same tests that all SG teams have to have performed on them when they return from off-world."

Xander thought about it, "As long as Teal'c stays with us during the tests I think that would be alright. But I can't promise anything for Faith or Mrs. Summers."

"Fair enough, son," Hammond replied. "As soon as Lt. Evans gets back you'll be 'Teleporting' her back to Sunnydale?"

'Well it's called Orbing, I'm really not sure what the difference is. But Faith says orbing sounds cooler." Xander replied. "And yeah it's not hard for me to do."

"How far can you orb?" Hammond asked.

Xander knew he was giving what could be important information out. But he knew he needed to build a relationship of trust, "Don't know. I've only been able to do it for four days now. But mini-me said he could go anywhere on Earth."

Lt. Evans returned. She had a bag with her and looked like she had been double timing it the entire time since she left. "Lt. Evans reporting sir. I am ready to go." She saluted General Hammond.

After returning the salute, General Hammond said, "Thank you, Lieutenant. Carry on."

She nodded and Xander came up beside her. "Hold onto my arm." Once the Lieutenant had a firm grip he orbed out.

"Col. O'Neill, just how dangerous are these people?" General Hammond asked.

"Sir, based on what we've seen, extremely dangerous. Teal'c estimated that in hand to hand combat either of the Summers girls could take a squad of Jaffa out, alone. Xander is able to orb, but he can also use his ability to remove parts of something as long as he can see the thing."

"Parts, Colonel?" Janet asked.

"Yup, parts like an arm or a leg from an individual," Jack explained. "I've seen him use it against dimensional invaders. I don't want to see him use it against a human being."

Just then the blue lights returned. This time Xander was with Maj. Carter. After depositing her in the room, he orbed out again. During the next three minutes, he did it again and again until everyone who was coming was there.

Your Lt. Evans said she would need about thirty minutes before she was ready to come back." Xander said. "Any chance to get something to eat? I'm really hungry now."

"As soon as Sergeant Harriman has your IDs ready we'll take you to the mess." General Hammond replied. He had already been introduced to Joyce and Faith Summers.

Walter Harriman looked up, "Sir they should be ready in five minutes. I started preparing them as soon as we arrived in here." Walter had actually started preparing the paperwork when the General had told him the names of the people who SG-1 would be disclosing Project Bluebook to.

"Very good, Sergeant," General Hammond said. "I'll ask Teal'c to be your escort to the mess hall. After you're done eating he will take you to Dr. Fraiser's people to start your physicals."

As soon as they had the IDs and Teal'c had left with their guests, General Hammond turned to his officers. "I want an honest threat assessment. Just how dangerous are these people?"

"Honestly sir, based on what we've personally seen," Major Carter began, "extremely, Alexander Giles's ability to teleport himself and others would be a major security concern. But his ability to selectively teleport part of someone, that would worry me more if he is turned into an enemy. So far he has been line of sight only. But if he can do it just by looking through a video feed? Anyone who became his enemy would be in danger."

"General, I want to emphasize from what we have seen of this group, I don't think that will be an issue. As long as we play it straight with them," Jack added. "Also, according to the ancient they met there are a group of ascended beings who are like the Goa'uld, but much better at playing God. And whatever race Xander is, they look at them as a threat. We need to keep that in mind if we ever meet them. Somehow I don't think they'll be as nice as the Goa'uld."

"Col. O'Neill is right sir. But the others are all exhibiting abilities I can't explain. They claim it's magic. And I have no idea how they are really doing anything they have done," Sam said. "They also seem to have had direct contact with not only one of the ancients, but another being they are calling 'Shemp'. This being they claim is capable of re-writing reality."

"General Hammond, I would appreciate it if what I say next never leaves this room," Jack said.

Hammond thought for a moment. "Jack as long as what you tell me does not endanger the Earth or the United States I give you my word." At the end of the day, he trusted Jack O'Neill.

"Sir, according to them this "Shemp" has already re-written reality. Prior to four days, ago Faith Lehane was not my daughter. She had no genetic relationship to Joyce Summers either. When Shemp met with Xander he told him that Faith needed me as a father and that I was owed one. Whatever that means," Jack said.

"Col. O'Neill, are you saying that they are in contact with a being that can re-write reality to the extent that they create Government programs like Achilles and we have no way of recognizing it?"

"We don't know, sir," Jack said. "It's possible that he did that. Or he used an existing program and added us in. But they assured us that all the genetic tests would show Faith is my daughter just as any done on Alexander and Tara would show Rupert Giles is their father."

"Dr. Fraiser, I want these tests expedited. We need to know anything that we can determine from them," General Hammond ordered. "How long before we can expect preliminary results from the tests?"

"Sir, we were already prepared for some tests. I should be able to give you some preliminary findings within four hours after we start. But sir, I will need the permission of all of them to give you more than just the basics," Janet said. "It would probably be best if we discuss any findings with them here. It would help generate trust between us."

George thought for a moment, "Agreed, Captain. They aren't under my command and it seems we may be needing their help in the future. Ask them if they would be willing to share the results with us all here." Janet nodded in agreement.

"Mrs. Summers also warned me of another issue, sir," Jack said. "She said both Mr. Giles and herself have noticed subtle mental changes in the three children. They easily slip into calling them, Mom or Dad. She was warning me that it is very possible Faith will react the same way with me." He paused, "I believe they are also affected, seeing them as their own children. Her next words were to tell me that if I hurt Faith no one would ever find the body. And since Xander said basically the same thing, I believe them. Also, sir, I have to report since meeting her, I have felt drawn to her. I want to protect her, to be a Father to her."

"Sir, that would have happened to anyone who read her file. That young woman has been through hell. I know from what I read, I want to see that she gets all the help we can give her. And actually meeting her, well all of them has only intensified the feelings. So it might not be as a result of any alterations that may have been done," Sam said.

"I'm going to order complete check-ups for both of you, and Teal'c. Dr. Fraiser, I want to be notified of anything that is the slightest bit off," Hammond said. "I also want a complete write up from both of you, paper form only, for now, on what has happened. Walter, I want everything we can pull up on Project Initiative. Dismissed, people."

hr/

Three hours later, Dr. Janet Fraiser was going over several test results. "Oh my," She said. "Lt. Evans, would you ask Mrs. Summers to come to my office?" The Lieutenant nodded and went to get Joyce.

Joyce entered the office and said, "Dr. Fraiser, your Lieutenant said you wanted to see me. Is everything alright with the tests?"

"Yes, Mrs. Summers," Janet began. "First, let me say I haven't found anything to worry about as far as your own health or any of the others is concerned. And please call me Janet."

"Alright Janet, but you'll have to call me Joyce," Joyce said. "So why did you want to see me?"

"I was going over your blood work. As part of the standard procedures, we test all woman for the presence of a hormone called HCG or human chorionic gonadotropin." Janet paused. "Your tests came back positive for HCG."

"I'm sorry but what does that mean for me?" Joyce asked.

"It means you're pregnant," Janet said. "Based on the amount of HCG in your blood I would say it happened within the last week."

"How?" Joyce asked. She knew she had not been with anyone in the last few months let alone the last week. "I haven't been with anyone, in well longer than I want to admit. So how am I pregnant?" Looking at Janet she said, "I need to get my entire family here. There should be no way I can be pregnant. Which living in our world means something is going on. Could you call Xander in, please." Now was not the time to panic. She knew she needed to stay calm. "What about the others? Are any of the others pregnant as well?"

"Joyce, the only test results of that type I can share with you are yours and Faiths. I need permission from my other patients before I can say anything," Janet replied. "But I can tell you Faith isn't pregnant."

"You'll have permission as soon as we get the others here. Can you ask General Hammond for the conference room, please? Joyce asked.

"I can and will but we are still waiting on test results for some of you. If you'll give me about an hour and I can have all the preliminary work done," Janet said.

"Fine, I can wait an hour but I'd still like to get everyone here now please," Joyce said.

George was already reading the reports that SG-1 had started the night before. Some of the things he read he knew could never go into official reports. The information about Jack's son being one of them. He was surprised to get a call already from Dr. Fraiser, "Dr. Fraiser, what can I do for you?"

Janet quickly explained that due to some of the findings, Joyce had requested the use of the conference room and the rest of the people from Sunnydale be brought to the base. George quickly authorized it. "Is it alright with Mrs. Summers if I have all of SG-1 present as well as the both of us?"

Janet paused a moment and George could hear her talking to Mrs. Summers. She returned to the phone. "Sir, Mrs. Summers is fine with that. I will be in as soon as we have completed the other tests but everyone else will be heading to conference room one now."

hr/

When Hammond entered the room all of SG-1 were already present, as well as the rest of the people from Sunnydale. Mrs. Summers looked fine; he wondered what Janet had told her that had upset her.

Buffy and the others wondered what was so important that her Mom had asked Xander to bring them here right away. She could tell her mother was upset about something. But had no idea what the problem could be.

Joyce sat in her chair looking at her family. The news that she was pregnant had come as a huge shock. She hadn't been with anyone since Rupert during the band candy incident. And that was far too long ago. She looked up as Gen. Hammond entered, he was the last one they were waiting for. Aside from Dr. Fraiser, who was still running tests. Before coming here she had tried to impress upon the Doctor the importance of finding out if anyone else was pregnant. She knew either Willow or Tara should be. But she wanted to make sure that Buffy wasn't pregnant.

"Thank you all for coming," Joyce began. "I wanted to see you all as soon as possible because Dr. Fraiser gave me some very startling news." She hurried on before anyone could start thinking the wrong thing. "According to her tests. I'm pregnant."

As she could have predicted the news hit her family from out of the blue. "What, Mom how?" Buffy said. Xander looked shocked and didn't say anything. Faith looked like she wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.

Giles fell back on old-fashioned manners, "Congratulations are in order then, Joyce?" From the way she had spoken, he was not sure. "May I ask who the Father is? I would assume he would be here with us."

Joyce laughed a slightly brittle laugh. "That is an excellent question, Rupert. Since I have not been with anyone in a very long time, I'm wondering that myself."

That declaration stopped everyone. Unknown mystical pregnancies were never a good sign. Joyce continued, "According to Dr. Fraiser, I'm between three days to a week along. I wanted everyone here so that we could try and figure out how this happened. And make sure that no one who shouldn't be pregnant is now pregnant."

"Oh, my." Giles said, "Uhm yes, I think that is probably a very good idea, Joyce. How long before the doctor has the results?"

"It shouldn't be long now," Joyce said. "She was able to tell me that Faith is not pregnant right now, but wouldn't tell me anything about Buffy, or the others."

Faith looked relieved as she said, "I ain't ready to be a mom. Specially not right now."

Joyce nodded to her, "I agree. I think you're a bit too young. One day I think you'll make a wonderful mother. But let's keep that for the future." Xander gulped as he heard that pronouncement. He wasn't thinking that far ahead, and he quickly decided that thinking that way right now would not be of the good.

Tara, Willow, and Buffy were a little on edge. Tara and Willow were wondering which of them might be pregnant and Buffy was praying that she wasn't. Buffy finally asked, "Mom you had to tell us now? I'm going to be a wreck until I know that I'm not pregnant."

Joyce sighed, "I'm sorry about that Buffy, but yes I needed you all here. And by telling you now, whatever Dr. Fraiser tells us should not come as such a shock." All of the Scoobies nodded, it made sense.

"Well at least since the house is completely redone, it'll be easy to turn one of the rooms into a nursery," Xander said. "And hey we could use most of Buffy's stuff since it won't be too big for the new baby."

"Hey!" Buffy cried "Quit calling me short!"

"I'm not calling you short Buffster," Xander said. "I'm just trying to point out the positives. Like this way, you'll have someone you're taller than." Faith laughed at the last one, Willow and Tara were trying to suppress their giggles. Joyce actually laughed.

Buffy turned to her mother, "Mom, how could you?" She demanded. Jack started laughing at that, Buffy turned to give him a glare.

The door to the conference room open, Dr. Fraiser came in. "General, I have the preliminary reports." She said, "If everyone is alright with it I will share what we have found. If you'd rather not have the information shared then I can talk to you one at a time."

Everyone quickly said they were fine with hearing the news together. Joyce spoke up, "Please tell us the results of the pregnancy tests before anything else."

Janet nodded, "According to the tests only you are pregnant, Joyce."

"What?" was the general exclamation from the Scoobies. Janet looked confused.

"Bu-But How," asked Tara, Willow was right behind her, "That can't be right."

"I'm not sure what the problem is but our testing is very good. Because of our access to other planets we actually have better testing equipment than can be found in any Doctor's office or Lab on Earth," Janet said.

"Giles, what's going on? The marriage ritual said it would ensure either Tara or I were pregnant," Willow asked Giles. "How can Mrs. Summers be pregnant but we're not?"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
_

Chapter 5 _

"Giles, what's going on? The marriage ritual said it would ensure either Tara or I were pregnant!" Willow asked Giles. "How can Mrs. Summers be pregnant but we're not?"

Willow's question caused all of the SGC personnel to wonder what the hell they were talking about. For the Scoobies, it caused a brain freeze. "Yeah Giles, how come they ain't knocked up?" Faith asked.

"Uhm yes, well honestly I have no idea," Giles began. "The ritual was very specific. And the other Xander did not indicate that there would be any other type of problems."

"Ritual?" Janet asked. "Were you doing some kind of in vitro fertilization?" She still hadn't wrapped her head around magic. Like Carter, she believed in technology.

"Magic much like science does follow set paths," Giles lectured. "When you have a known spell, as long as the requirements and procedures are followed the results are fairly standardized. You may have varying degrees of results, based on the caster's power. But if you get a result it should be exactly the same basic response."

"You're saying it's like firing a weapon," Jack said. "Levels of skill may be different but the result of the weapon being fired should be the same?"

"Yes, that is a very good analogy, Col. O'Neill" Giles replied.

"So what happened? You get some kind of a cross-wind in your spell that made it miss the target?" Jack asked, a slight smirk on his face. He was starting to wrap his head around magic, but it was still difficult to accept.

Giles paused at that question. So did all the other Scoobies. Trying to think what could have happened. Suddenly Buffy turned to Xander and hit him on the arm.

"Hey, why'd you hit me?" Xander asked rubbing his arm. The blow wasn't at slayer strength but it still hurt.

"You got my Mom pregnant," Buffy said, Folding her arms and glaring at him.

"What?" was the general outcry.

"Buffy," Joyce began. "Would you please explain how this is Xander's fault?"

"He's the cross windy thing," Buffy stated as if that should explain it.

"Cross windy?" Giles asked looking for clarification.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, geez didn't anybody get it? Right, then Willow started hopping in her seat. Pointing to Willow, Buffy said. "See Willow gets it."

Everyone turned to Willow, who looked excited. "It's Xander! Remember what other Xander said about him and magic and why he should never ever do spells? Unless it's like an end of the world important, do or die?" Willow could see the other Scoobies were catching on. SGC people, however, were still confused. Her next reply tried to fix that. "In magic, Xander is an unstable element. If you-you add him into the mix then things don't go as planned, so when he was involved with the ritual the result was a pregnancy but it didn't happen like it should have. Instead, Mrs. Summers is pregnant. But does that mean that the baby is still mine and Tara's or is Xander the dad and he can't be a dad because he's dating Faith and him being the dad of her Mom's kid would just be icky because if they have kids someday their brother or sister would be there aunt or uncle and that's really too icky for words." Willow was babbling at full speed.

Was Xander shocked? Gobsmacked? Completely flummoxed? He really wasn't sure how he should be responding. It made a twisted sort of sense. He was the universe's butt monkey and right now the universe was trying to prove that point.

Daniel spoke up first. Since being exposed to how Willow went off on occasions, he had been practicing. He found he followed most of what she had said but wanted to make sure of it. "Willow, so you're saying that just Xander's presence during this spell caused Mrs. Summers to become pregnant instead of you and Tara? And this kind of thing happens regularly?"

"So how many girls have you gotten pregnant?" a suddenly menacing Jack asked Xander.

"Well, not regularly on the pregnancy thing. Because that's the first time this has happened although there was the whole love spell thing." Willow began, before being cut off by Xander's response to Jack.

"None, I swear!" Xander practically shouted. Turning to Giles he said, "Please tell me Willow's wrong, and I didn't get Mrs. Summers pregnant."

Giles was very conscious of the fact that everyone seemed to be looking at him. "Unfortunately, Xander, it does seem to fit the known facts."

"But I'm not ready to be a Dad!" Xander cried.

"Until we can determine who the father of the child actually is, I would not count on your being a father," Giles said. "It is possible that any of us or none of us could be the parent or parents of this child."

"Rupert," Joyce began. "How can we determine who the parents are? Is there a spell that would do that?" Turning to Janet she continued, "I know that usually, you have to wait several months to find out anything about the baby, do you have a way to speed that up?"

Janet was not sure how to respond, "Joyce, I'm sorry but right now we don't have anything that can tell us that, and keep the baby alive. In about three months we would be able to run some tests."

Giles was speaking right after Janet finished. "There are several spells that can confirm pregnancy and the general health of the child. And once we have a sample of the baby's blood we could determine parentage. But I am not aware of any spell that can determine who the parents are prior to the birth of the child."

But, you guys deal with aliens?" Xander said, "Don't you know any that could help us out here?"

Jack looked at Xander, "It's not that easy, kid. I can't just say beam me up and have an alien respond." A bright flash of light occurred, briefly startling everyone. Jack was gone.

All the Scoobies looked at the SGC personnel. "Sir, that was an Asgard teleportation device." Major Carter said.

Faith asked the question all of the Scoobies wanted to know. "Who are the Asgard and why would they take my Dad?" Hammond silently noted how the young woman was referring to Col. O'Neill as her father.

Daniel answered, "The Asgard are an advanced race. We've met them previously. They were in contact with Earth as well. They are the basis of the Norse Gods. You would recognize them as the iRoswell Greys/i.

"Wait you're saying the Loki Shemp was talking about is the Loki from myths? And you guys have met him?" Xander asked. He was actually relieved that the subject had turned from him getting Joyce pregnant.

"We haven't actually met Loki," Sam said. "We did meet Thor. He's the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet."

Xander looked awed. These guys had met Thor. OK maybe he wasn't the Marvel Comics Thor, but still Thor. Faith seeing the look in Xander's eyes interrupted his train of thought. "Get him back, Boytoy!" She demanded.

"Huh," Xander said. "I mean how?"

"Like you did with me. Find him and get him back! Orb to wherever he is and bring him back."

"Faith I don't know if I can," Xander began. Seeing Faith didn't look like she was going to accept that answer he hastily continued. "With you and everyone else I have a connection with you so I could feel you. I don't have that with Jack."

Faith was not taking no for an answer. "Then figure out how to use them to get the connection." She pointed at SG-1. "They should have feelings for him, and I don't know, try to use them to find him."

Xander was about to complain that he wasn't Counselor Troy. She couldn't just expect him to ifeel/i what others felt. He stopped himself for two reasons. First, he didn't think that would go over well with Faith. Second, he was paying attention to his feelings. He could tell the anxiety level in the room was extremely high. He could almost feel it in waves coming from everyone, especially from Major Carter.

"Faith I'll try," Xander said. "But I'm going to need help." Turning to SG-1 he began. "I don't know what I'm doing yet. But I hope I can use your feelings for Jack to, well track him. With Faith and the others, I can concentrate on them and feel where they are. And then go to them. But I know them really well. I can feel you are all worried about Jack. I want to try and use you to find him."

"How may we assist you in that, Alexander Giles?" Teal'c asked. "And would you be able to take us to him as well?"

"Uhm, I think maybe if we have physical contact like holding hands that might help. And I'm not sure if I could take you to him but I could try," Xander responded.

"Before we do that," General Hammond interrupted. "I want SG-1 to gear up. I don't want anyone going into a situation where we don't know what they'll be encountering." Looking at Xander he continued. "Son, Xander, I can't authorize any weapons for you. Not until I know you have been checked out on their proper use."

"Yeah I can understand that," Xander said. "After all the only real military experience I have is from the Soldier possession." Hammond heard what Xander said but decided it was not worth pursuing right now. Even if the strange comment did pique his curiosity.

Hammond turned to SG-1, "Hurry to the armory and get your gear. If this works we want to make sure you bring gear for Col. O'Neill as well." SG-1 quickly left, heading to the armory to get what they thought they might need.

"Does this kind of thing happen often?" Tara asked.

General Hammond chuckled, "This specifically? No, but SG-1 often finds itself in the strangest situations." He looked at Faith as he continued. "But they are the best of a very elite group. They always manage to come out of it in one piece. I'm sure they'll have Col. O'Neill back just as soon as possible."

It took less than five minutes for SG-1 to return. They were dressed in standard gear for an off-world mission and carrying an extra backpack. "I would recommend that Alexander Giles wears Col. O'Neill's pack," Teal'c said. "If he is unable to orb us with himself, then he would have weapons for O'Neill."

Daniel looked at Xander, "How do you want us to do this?"

Xander had been thinking while they were gone. "If you and Teal'c each hold onto one of my arms. I want Maj. Carter to place her hands on my shoulders. And think of Jack. Not where he is but concentrate on the person you are friends with. Everything that makes them… Well, the person who is your friend."

SG-1 took up the positions Xander had indicated. Daniel thought of Jack, as he had first met him on the mission to Abydos. How the man had opened up and taken Skaraa under his wing. How he had been there for him when Sha're was taken by the Goa'uld. And how he had helped him when she had died.

Teal'c though of the Tau'ri who had helped him escape the false God Apophis. Who had seen in him the true warrior who chafed under the bonds of the Goa'uld. The man who stood side by side with him in battle.

Sam was having problems concentrating. When she tried to focus on Jack, she found she wasn't focusing on her friend. She was thinking of the moments when he would laugh at pulling off a silly prank. Or his obsession with blue jello. The way he truly cared for others. His reactions to the Orbanian children and what happened to them. How she thought he must have been such a good father. And part of her thought how he could be such a good father. She found herself thinking of the times they were together off base, at O'Malleys or just enjoying each others company.

Xander was surprised that this half-assed idea seemed to be doing something. HE could feel the emotions coming from the three SG-1 members. Admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship. He could sense all of these from all three members. But it wasn't working he couldn't quite picture Jack. "I need more," He said. "Concentrate on Jack. On your strongest feelings for him."

He felt a spike of anxiety from Maj. Carter. Then he felt a much stronger emotion. It rolled off of her. A longing and desire for Jack, he could suddenly see Jack. Was he in some kind of hallway? And it looked like he was running from something. He saw him go into a room, shut a door that looked like something out of a sci-fi show. Pulling his energy he called out, "Hold on!" With that he orbed.

Orbing to where Jack was took everything Xander had. It may have been carrying the three extra people and all their gear, but as he materialized with them Xander felt his consciousness slipping away.

Jack was shocked to see the blue lights that indicated Xander was arriving. He had reached the ship and heard Thor's voice telling him where to go. He had just finished talking with Thor and was going to use the console to listen to Thor's message when Xander arrived, with the rest of his team.

Teal'c caught Xander as he passed out. Sam was concentrating on Jack. "Sir, Xander was able to do it. He orbed all of us to you." She noticed the now unconscious young man. "And I'm guessing that that took a lot out of him."

"How the hell did he do that?" Jack asked. Xander had just orbed over two hundred thousand miles. Jack could tell that they had passed the moon already, but not by much.

"It wasn't easy for him, Jack," Daniel began. "He told us that in order to orb to someone he has to have an emotional connection to find them. He somehow used us to find you. But it looks like it really took it out of him." He could see that Xander was still breathing.

Teal'c stood up. "O'Neill, what has happened?"

Quickly Jack told the team about how he had found himself on Thor's ship and was guided to this room. He explained how Thor had been able to communicate a little of what was happening. The ship was infested with some type of mechanical bug. Thor had confirmed that these creatures were the enemy that the Asgard were fighting. He also said that Thor had left him some recordings, which he had not listened to yet.

Carter quickly moved over to the console that Jack pointed to. Looking at it she said, "Did Thor say how this thing was supposed to work?"

"Ah, no, the last thing he said to me, just before he passed out, was "Forgive me". Just try moving one of them," Jack said. "He knew I wouldn't know how to use it so maybe it will start as soon as you move one."

Carter picked up one of the white stones and moved it to the top line. A large viewscreen came up on the wall.

Thor was looking out at them, "Colonel Jack O'Neill. I have made these recordings for you in the event that I am dead or unable to pass on the necessary information. Under my command, the Beliskner was called into battle against an enemy we have named Replicators. During the battle, this ship became infested by the technology. The Replicators accessed the computer, which contained information about your planet, and plotted a course here. The crew was transported off the ship. I destroyed the outbound transporter technology to prevent the Replicators from escaping and remained in the hopes of stopping the Beliskner from reaching Earth. If you are watching this recording, then I have failed, and I have also likely doomed you to certain death."

"Well, that doesn't sound good," Xander said. He had been waking up as the program message played. "Where are we, and man I don't want to do that again." Carter picked the stone up pausing the message as SG-1 turned to look at Xander.

"You're awake," she said. "You orbed us almost to the moon. We're on the Asgard ship Beliskner."

Xander looked shocked. "No way! The moon?"

"Yeah, kid," Jack began, "I figure it was about two hundred thousand miles. How are you feeling?"

"Like I just ran two hundred thousand miles carrying the big guy on my back," Xander said pointing at Teal'c. "And I'm starving. Please tell me we have something to eat."

Teal'c reached into Jack's pack that was still on the floor and pulled out an MRE. "While the taste may be lacking, Alexander Giles, I have found they do work for a food substitute." He handed the MRE to Xander.

Jack looked stunned. "Really T, now you're cracking jokes?"

"I was not joking, O'Neill," Teal'c began. "They are slightly better than what the Goa'uld would serve prisoners. And since they are prepackaged they have the advantage of not having been tampered with by the guards."

Xander had taken the package. His soldier memories told him it would taste not bad, but definitely not good. Still, he was too hungry to care. Tearing open the package he grabbed a bottle of water and quickly was preparing the meal.

"Carter, let's play the rest of the message," Jack said.

Placing the stone back in the same spot the image of Thor started speaking again. "By using these controls," Thor indicated another of the stands. "You will be able to communicate with your people. I have also preprogrammed the transporters to pick up any objects placed in front of the Chapa'i. This should allow you to bring any materials needed to destroy the Beliskner. I am sorry, Col. O'Neill, without the outbound transporters you will be destroyed as well. It is the only way to save your planet."

"Jack, that is not good," Daniel said. "How long do we have before the ship reaches Earth?"

"Daniel, there's no way to tell that right now. Unless you can read these systems, we don't know how fast we're going," Sam said. "The ship has to be slowing down if the Replicators want to land it. My best guess would be anywhere from three to five hours."

"What are you basing that on, Carter?" Jack asked.

"Superior Asgard technology and our experience with Goa'uld ships," Sam responded. "But as I said it is only a guess."

"So three to five hours to prevent an apocalypse?" Xander asked. "Wow, you really are Faith's Dad."

"What do you mean, Alexander Giles?" Teal'c asked.

"We have had to prevent a few in Sunnydale. Usually, it comes down to the last minute," Xander said. "Seems to me that it must be a family trait. So what's the plan, because I don't feel like dying. If we get closer to Earth I may be able to orb us out of here. But how do we stop the ship?"

"Good question, Kid," Jack responded. "What did you bring with you?" He pointed to the gear that SG-1 had. "Standard mission load-out?"

"Yes, Sir," Sam replied. "Since we did not know what exactly was going on we thought it best to be prepared."

"So that means between all of us we have three pounds of PBX, right?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Sir," Sam replied. "Are you thinking to use the PBX to blow up the ship? I don't think we have enough to do that."

"What is PBX?" Came Thor's question. Looking over at him the team saw he was now awake.

"Great Zeus!" Xander exclaimed he had not noticed the alien before. "Is that the Loki guy?"

"No this is Thor," Jack said.

"An explosive," Teal'c said replying to Thor's question.

"You just have to tell us the best places to plant it," Jack said.

"All Asgard ships are equipped with internal dampening fields that activate in the event of an explosion," Thor explained.

"Well, how exactly did you expect us to destroy the ship?" Jack asked.

"If I knew a fast simple method, I would have destroyed the ship myself before endangering your lives," Thor replied. "The technical specifications of the Beliskner were contained within the recordings I made for you. They should be able to assist you."

Sam moved over to the control panel again. She restarted the recording. Thor's voice began speaking, "The Beliskner is powered by four neutrino ion generators. In your Earth units of measurement, each engine outputs a maximum of one billion kilojoules." A diagram of the ship was shown on the screen. "Forward propulsion is achieved by two rear thrusters." The generators and thrusters were highlighted in blue.

As the recordings finished the team and Xander turned to Thor.

"What else can you tell us about these Replicators?" Sam asked.

"They were discovered on an isolated planet in our home galaxy some years ago. The creators were not present," Thor said.

Teal'c nodded and said, "Most likely destroyed by their own creation."

"The replicators were brought aboard an Asgard ship for study before the danger could be fully comprehended," Thor added. "Overconfidence in our technologies has been our undoing. The entities learned from the very means that were employed to stop them. They have become a plague on our galaxy that is annihilating everything in its path."

"We do that all the time. I kinda expected more from you guys," Jack said. "Why haven't these little buggers landed the ship already?"

"Their odds of survival in a new environment depend on numbers. They are currently feeding off the ship and replicating," Thor replied.

"What? Are you saying they are actually eating the ship?" Sam asked.

"Ingesting the alloys, yes," Thor said. " They will continue until they risk compromising the integrity of the hull. Then they will land in search of more raw materials."

"How intelligent are they?" Sam asked.

"Their capacity for learning is extremely high. Each entity is capable of individual behavior, yet they all act with a common purpose," Thor replied.

"What's their common purpose?" Xander asked. He had been listening quietly.

"Self-replication. It seems to be their only purpose," Thor replied.

"Then how do we stop them?" Xander said.

"Hang on, Thor. You said that they wouldn't risk compromising the integrity of the hull?" Sam said.

"Correct," Thor replied.

"Can this ship withstand an uncontrolled reentry into the atmosphere?" Sam asked.

"No, the heat from the friction would cause the ship to burn up," Thor said.

"Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that with all this advanced intergalactic technology this ship can't withstand a little heat?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"In order to reflect the subspace field of the phase generators…" Thor began.

Jack quickly cut him off, "So…no."

"That is correct," Thor said.

"Then all we have to do is crash the ship into the atmosphere," Sam said.

"You will have to regain control of the navigational computer," Thor began explaining.

"Hey! Hold on," Xander said. "Wouldn't it be better if we saved the ship? You know just get rid of the Replicators?"

Xander could tell that even the alien was looking at him like he was an idiot. "What if I orbed them off the ship? Can they survive in space?"

"When exposed to space, the Replicators go dormant," Thor explained. "It would not destroy them, but they would no longer be a threat to us. I could destroy them if we regained control of the ship. But what is this iOrbed/i? Is it a weapon of some kind?"

"Ah, easier to just show you." Xander looked back at the ground where he had left his water bottle. "Water," he said and orbed the bottle to him.

Thor was shocked. Turning to O'Neill he said, "Col. O'Neill, when did you make contact with the Furlings?" Thor had thought they had all been destroyed by the Goa'uld. Yet this was obviously one of them. Only the Furlings had had the ability to transport matter the way this Alexander Giles had just demonstrated.

"What?" Jack exclaimed.

"What's a Furling?" Xander asked. "I mean it sounds like either an Ewok or one of those cosplay guys you see dressing up like animals." Xander really didn't want to think about that. "And Hey, again I'm human. Well, at least half human. But still human!"

Jack looked at him, "I know. The name just says cute and cuddly."

"The Furlings were the fourth race," Daniel said. "We have only read a little about them. The Goa'uld supposedly exterminated them."

Thor was confused, "Alexander Giles, you are not aware of what you are?" It was possible that the replicators would not be able to defend against the abilities of a Furling. They might be able to save the Beliskner. "The Replicators should not be able to defend against the Furling method of transportation. You would be able to clear them off of the Beliskner."

"Ah, it's hard to explain," Xander began. "But I think it may be better to talk after we get rid of these things."

"They're all over the ship," Jack said. "We need a way to draw them to us so that you can get rid of them." As far as plans went this one wasn't so bad. "Thor, you said they were drawn to transporters, can we use that on the ship?"

"I sabotaged the outbound transporter system," Thor replied. "We would have to beam things into the ship. That would draw some of the replicators to you. However, they would learn to avoid that very quickly."

"Yes, but if they can only consume so much of the ship without destroying themselves," Sam began, "we could regain control and then sweep the ship. We just need to keep beaming things onto the ship to attract them. Once enough of them are gone, we can stop the ship from landing and then sweep up the rest."

"If we contact General Hammond," Teal'c said, "they could place objects in front of the Chapa'i for us to transport up. This should draw out the replicators."

"So how do we contact them?" Xander asked. Thor pointed to the controls they needed to use. Once Maj. Carter understood what he was telling her to do they called Earth.

Sitting in the conference room, General Hammond was surprised at how calm these people were. They seemed to take everything that had happened since the disappearance of Col. O'Neill in stride. They continued to talk with Dr. Fraiser about Mrs. Summers pregnancy. Although he did notice them glancing at the clock.

After almost a half an hour had passed everyone was getting worried. No one wanted to be the person to bring up what might have happened. Joyce decided to bring up their other problem to see what help General Hammond could offer. "General Hammond, is there anything you can do to help get the Initiative group in Sunnydale to leave Faith and the rest of us alone? We had thought of talking to the leader of the group, Dr. Margaret Walsh. Pointing out the NDA's we already had signed with the government. But is there something more that you can do?"

"Mrs. Summers, I would need to know more about this group. Because of what we discovered about project Achilles, I may be able to use that to help remove the threat but I would need to know everything you can tell me about the Initiative." Gen. Hammond continued. "As a result of the work we do here, I have a direct line to the President. If needed I will bring this directly to him."

The next half hour was spent as they explained everything they knew about the initiative to Gen. Hammond. Giles had a difficult decision: did he tell him about Kennedy DeSilva or not? In the end, it came down to the fact that she was a young girl, before being a slayer. "General Hammond," Giles began. "Right now this iInitiative/i has kidnapped a young woman. We have photos of them attacking my flat and taking her out. She has not been released from the base where they keep the beings that they capture. I believe it is imperative that we arrange her release as soon as possible. I do not trust what these NID people will do to her."

Gen. Hammond was stunned. He knew the NID could be ruthless, but this seemed to go beyond even their normal limits. "Mr. Giles, I will need that proof. If you have it with you I can take it to the President immediately."

"Ah," Giles began. "Currently, it is in Sunnydale. As soon as Xander returns, we can see about retrieving it."

Everyone was surprised as a see through Col. O'Neill started forming in the room. Everyone could hear Jack as he said. "Hellooooo? Testing…testing…is this thing on?" Jack's back was to the room.

"Col. O'Neill," General Hammond said. Jack turned around as Hammond continued, "Are the rest of SG-1 and Xander with you?"

Everyone was relieved as Jack responded, "Yes Sir, Xander got them all here. It seemed to take a lot out of him, but they're here. We've got a problem. Thor's ship is infested with alien mechanical bugs. They are trying to land on Earth. And Thor said if they do they'll destroy us."

General Hammond nodded, "I take it you have a plan? What do you need from us?"

"Actually, Xander came up with a plan that may let us all survive. Carter's plan was to blow up the ship. But Xander thinks he can orb these things into space. Only thing is, we need to draw them out. We need you to start bringing supplies to the base of the Stargate. We'll beam them up. That should draw out the bugs. Then Xander is going to orb them into space," Jack said.

"What about additional personnel?" Gen. Hammond asked. "I have three teams ready to assist right now."

"Since we're not going with the everyone dies plan," Jack said, "we could probably use the help. At least to protect Xander while he's doing his thing. Once we start removing the bugs, Thor says they'll wise up so we'll have to hunt them down."

"I'm going!" Both Buffy and Faith said at the same time.

Hammond turned to the two young women. Jack seemed to be listening to someone they couldn't hear. "I'm not telling them that," Jack said to whoever he was talking to. Hammond decided to wait before speaking.

Suddenly the image of Jack was joined by Xander. "Hey guys," he said with a wave. "Look these things aren't demons. And from what we've seen you'd need to be using guns to damage them. So both of you need to stay there." Xander didn't look happy at having to tell the two slayers to stay out of the fight. "The military guys should be able to help, but until you get trained on their weapons, you'd be more likely to get hurt."

"Xander you're not trained for that either," Buffy declared. Inside she couldn't believe he was trying to keep her out of the way.

"Buffy I'm not going to be using weapons," Xander explained. "I'm going to be orbing these things into space. I won't even be trying to touch them. And anyone they send up will be shooting them from a distance. The only distance weapons you and Faith use are crossbows. And that wouldn't help."

"Col. O'Neill how long do you need before you start beaming up teams?" Gen. Hammond asked.

"Sir, if they're ready now we'll beam the first group up in ten minutes. Make sure they have plenty of ammo." Jack said.

"We'll be ready, Col. O'Neill," General Hammond promised. He quickly got up and left to arrange the support he had promised.

Joyce was looking at her daughters. They should be able to keep Buffy here, she had no idea where this iStargate/i was. But Faith had other options. "Faith," She gently said to her daughter. Once Faith was looking at her, "You're not going either." Faith started to protest. "I know you could sneak past everyone. But Xander is right. And he shouldn't be distracted by you when he needs to concentrate on what they are doing."

"But what if he gets hurt?" Faith said quietly.

"Trust him," Joyce said. "He's proven he can take care of himself. So trust him now. Once you know enough to help, then you could help him. But not this time." Joyce felt her heart almost break as she thought of sending one of her daughters into a situation like Col. O'Neill had described. But she knew both of them would be doing that for the rest of their lives.

"Promise me, Faith," Joyce said. "Promise me you won't try to go this time."

Faith reluctantly said, "I promise." Joyce reached over and drew Faith into her arms. Faith returned the hug, burying her head in Joyce's chest. "He better be alright, or I'll kill him," she mumbled.

Onboard the Beliskner, the team was finalizing their plans. "Carter, you and Daniel stay here with Thor. Teal'c and I will be with Xander until we get the first two teams up. After that, we need to start moving to the Navigation control room." Jack then asked, "Any questions or ideas?"

"Sir, What if we constantly change where the transporter deposits people," Sam said. "Thor says that the replicators adapt quickly. If they know that everything they send to one area is taken out then they'll avoid that area. If we move the location for the incoming transport it may allow us more time. If we only had a way to cloak Xander it would be even better."

"Ah crap," Xander said. "Are you positive we will need that?"

"Once the Replicators have identified you as the the source of their destruction," Thor said. "They will attempt to avoid you until they can destroy you."

"What about if they couldn't see me with a group after they had spotted me?" Xander asked.

"Logically they would assume that the group was not a threat and attack it," Sam replied.

"Why, kid? Do you have a way to cloak yourself?" Jack asked.

"No I don't," Xander replied. "But Faith does. And I really don't want to bring her up here after we just told them to stay put. Buffy's going to kill me if she gets left out."

"Are there more Furlings on Earth?" Thor asked. "If so then we should enlist the aid of as many of them as possible. The Replicators would be helpless before the Furlings abilities at this time. What we Asgard know of your abilities is considered historical, and would not have been in any database the Replicators could have accessed."

"We're not bringing up a bunch of untrained kids to fight these things," Jack said.

"Col. O'Neill, I have witnessed both Buffy and Faith Summers fighting. They are warriors. While they are in need of further training to become the best they could be, they are highly skilled." Teal'c declared.

"Jack, we've all seen what they can do with their magic. They wouldn't be defenseless," Daniel added.

"The Furlings were very adept at manipulating multiple forms of energy. Even their small children were easily able to protect themselves," Thor said. Sam on hearing this was elated. It wasn't magic. Thor just confirmed that.

"Jack," Xander began, "I don't want them here either. But if we need them to help stop these things...Well, it won't be the first time we've faced an apocalypse, and knowing our luck it won't be the last." Xander grinned at him. "It will be our first one in outer space."

"Sir, we can assign teams to assist them, but they are not children. All of them, except Faith, are old enough to serve if they enlisted." Sam hated to point it out to Jack, but he needed to recognize the truth. And Faith was almost old enough to join the Marines, not that she would want to mention that.

"Fine, but I don't want them up until we have at least two of the other teams in place," Jack said. "While we are fighting these things, Danny, you get back on the phone. Tell them everything we know, about how to stop these things. And they better be wearing our gear for safety. It may not stop the bugs, but it should help if there is an accident with the weapons."

Everyone knew this was the best plan that they had at the moment. But no one was particularly happy with the plan. "Xander, Teal'c, Let's go," Jack said as he grabbed his gear. Moving towards the door he said. "We've still got five minutes before we grab the first group. Once we're in place, we will let you know to start transporting, Carter."

Back on Earth, General Hammond had the first of the three SGC teams already preparing for action. As he was looking at the situation in front of the Stargate, the image of Daniel Jackson appeared.

"General Hammond, are you there?" Daniel called out.

From inside the control room, Hammond keyed the intercom, "Dr. Jackson, is there a problem?"

"No, Sir," Daniel began. "But we do have a slight change of plans. We will need everyone from Sunnydale, except Mrs. Summers-if you can get her to stay."

"What?" Hammond asked, "Why do you need a group of non-combatants?"

"Sir, All of the people from Sunnydale have, abilities, which Thor says the Replicators will not be able to counteract. But we need to get them outfitted with our gear. And I need to tell them what we know about the Replicators before they are brought up," Daniel explained. "Once we have the first two SGC teams up here we will bring them up. That should give you time to get gear for them and for me to explain."

General Hammond was not happy about this change. However, he was not going to argue with his team and Thor. "Walter, call the conference room. Ask Dr. Frasier to escort our guests to the gate room. Also call the armory and have them send up bullet proof vests and any other protective gear that we have that will fit them."

In the conference room, the Scoobies were anxiously waiting. They weren't happy with the situation but didn't see anything they could do to change it. The phone on the table started to ring. Dr. Fraiser answered it. After a quick conversation, she looked at the Scoobies.

"General Hammond has asked that all of you come with me to the gate room," Janet began.

"Has something happened?" Giles asked.

"Nothing yet," Janet said. "However, it seems there has been a change in plans. You are all needed down there. We will be met by several airmen who will have a change of clothes for you. And Daniel is waiting to tell you what is going on."

Faith and Buffy were the first ones on their feet. Looking at everyone an impatient Buffy said, "Let's go, come on," as she headed for the door. Once outside the door, Buffy realized she had no idea where she was going and was forced to wait for Dr. Fraiser.

Once everyone arrived at the gate room, they were amazed the large circular ring. It looked impressive. Several airmen showed up at the same time with carts holding bulletproof vests, helmets, and standard SGC BDU's. It took a few more minutes to find things that fit.

As they were trying things on, the first SGC team disappeared in a flash of light exactly like Col. O'Neill had. Turning to Daniel, the newly outfitted Scoobies waited for him to explain what was going on.

Onboard the Beliskner, Jack, Teal'c and Xander easily made their way to the cargo hold that Jack had first appeared in. Looking around the room, Jack pointed to the spot where he had arrived. "The team should show up right there. Once they are here the bugs should start coming. We want to get a large group of them before you try to orb them out." Pointing to one of the far corners. "Wait over there so you're not in the direct line of sight. Hopefully, that will get them concentrated on us."

Xander went over to where Jack had told him to position himself. He could feel the adrenaline starting to build. It felt like the night before graduation day all over again.

Jack radioed Sam, "Carter, we're in position. Bring the first team up."

"Roger, Sir," Carter replied. A flash of light filled the area Jack had pointed out and a four-man team from the SGC was standing there.

Jack wasted no time, "Alright, form two lines in front of the doors. Teal'c and I will be facing the door on the right. One of you come with us. The others cover the door on the left. Blast these things as soon as they start coming in."

By the time everyone was in position the first of the Replicators had arrived. The SGC teams started firing shotguns at the creatures, blowing them into little lego-like parts. Xander was amazed that something so easily taken out was giving the Asgard a hard time. Then he saw the bits and pieces pull themselves together and form new bugs.

"Man that's just not fair," Xander said. He was waiting until they had a large concentration of bugs before orbing the first ones out. After another thirty seconds, the room was ringing with the sound of gunfire. There must have been an easy two hundred of the bugs in sight. Concentrating, he pictured all the bugs he could see. "Space" he called out. Blue light formed around the Replicators. Suddenly they were gone.

Jack looked up, "Nice job, Kid." Xander smiled at him. Jack grinned and pointed to where there were more Replicators coming. "Don't worry, they've got more for us." He turned back and kept firing.

Then next ten minutes were a blur for Xander. The teams had two men firing at all times. They would stagger reloading their weapons while trying to push the bugs back. Every minute or two as the volume of bugs would get high enough Xander would orb a group out.

Jack called over the radio to Sam, "Carter brings up the next group and make sure they have more ammo for us." Less than a minute later the next SGC team arrived. The next five minutes were a repeat of the first team's arrival. Bugs just kept coming. The SGC personnel were blowing them away as quickly as they could fire. Xander kept orbing the bugs into space.

After five more minutes, the bugs stopped and then enmass turned around and fled. It was a very happy Jack O'Neill that looked at everyone and said, "Great Job, now gather up the gear. We are going to be moving this party. We don't want our guests to get lonely."

Calling to Sam, Jack said, "Carter, looks like they broke. Were you able to see what's going on down here?"

"Yes, Sir," Sam replied. "Thor showed me how to use the internal sensors. It looks like phase one worked. I'm going to bring up more ammunition before you start moving out. Did you want the group from Sunnydale brought up at the same time?"

Jack looked at Xander, "You ready to have everyone up here?"

Xander thought for a minute. "If we are heading to the control room next why don't we wait till we get in there? I'd rather not have them here until we absolutely need them."

"Carter, tell them to hold on. We want to get to the control room first. Once we have secured it, we'll bring them up if we still need them." Jack said.

Once the additional ammunition was transported up to them everyone rearmed and split up the remaining ammo. No other Replicators had appeared, which was a good sign. Moving through the corridors they followed Sam's direction. They stopped at every door they passed that led to a closed room.

Every room had more Replicators in them. They were tearing the place apart. Destroying the materials inside to create more of themselves. However opening the doors and firing shots inside was a very quick exercise. Xander was able to orb the bit of Replicator into space. What no one realized was that the smaller bits were not capable of transmitting information to the other Replicators.

After almost forty minutes they finally reached the navigation control room. Opening the doors they were greeted by one of the largest concentrations of bugs they had seen yet. The floors, walls, and ceilings were covered with the creatures.

All of the Replicators seemed to turn toward the door. They started to move as a wave. "Fall back," Jack commanded. "We'll use the door as a bottleneck." The plan was not a bad one. But the Replicators acted like a wave of army ants. They were climbing over each other. The things were less than a foot tall individually but the mass coming out of the door was over three feet high.

As the teams kept firing Xander was orbing them away as fast as he could. He hadn't waited like he had been in other rooms. As soon as he saw what was there he took up a position to the side facing the door and started concentrating. After almost two minutes of constant orbing Xander was feeling the strain. He wasn't even bothering to call out anything anymore as he orbed the bugs away. He hoped they let up soon.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity but was really less than five minutes the wave stopped. Moving forward Jack looked into the room. Every surface that he could see was torn up. And in the back of the room, he could see the Replicators leaving through a hole they had eaten through the wall. "Carter, the room is cleared. The replicators are retreating. But I don't know if we are going to be able to use this, they have pretty much destroyed it."

"Sir, Thor is trying to reroute sensors to get a clear picture of the room," Sam said.

"Does this thing have a backup control room?" Jack asked.

After a moment Sam replied, "There is an emergency control room that can only be used if the main control room has been destroyed. Thor didn't mention it earlier because of the safeties. But from what we are seeing here the other control room should be usable now. I'll guide you there but we need to go as quickly as possible. If the Replicators destroy that room we will have almost no chance of regaining control of the ship."

"Carter, can you get us more supplies?" Jack asked. "That last fight used up most of our ammo."

"Yes Sir, Consider it done," Sam replied. Less than a minute later the hallway was lit with the light from the Asgard transporter. Along with the requested ammunition were Buffy and Faith.

"What the Hell." Jack cursed. "Carter I didn't want the other group up here yet."

"Not her fault," Faith called out. "They tried to keep us back, but I saw Buffy making the move to be beamed up and no way was she getting all of the fun." Looking around both Buffy and Faith could see the metal walls of the spaceship and the destroyed room they were standing outside of.

"Damn B, look at that mess." Faith said pointing to the room.

"Wow, even demons are usually not that bad. I mean sure they destroy clothes but at least they usually just melt into goo," Buffy replied.

Xander just shook his head, he knew once they said they may need help it would be impossible to keep them away. "Hurry up, we have to get to this other control room," he said to the two slayers.

As the thirteen of them ran through the ship, they noticed as they would approach a corridor any Replicators in their way would split up. Half of them would begin fleeing and the other half attacking. "Xander concentrate on the ones trying to get away," Jack ordered. "We can grab the others while you're doing that. Buffy, Faith both of you stay with him. DO NOT get in front of our guns."

The new tactic worked for the next few minutes. The Replicators tried splitting their forces but with Xander concentrating on the ones fleeing, less than a quarter of the creatures were getting away.

The Replicators were individually incapable of complex thoughts or strategy. Only once they had reached a critical mass could they successfully analyze and adapt to a new situation. Because of the loss of almost seventy percent of their numbers, they were beginning to make stupid decisions. The largest remaining group sent out the signal for all of the remaining replicators to retreat to its current position.

For the SCG personnel and the three Scoobies, they saw Replicators coming out of every room they passed. The things tried to avoid them, but between the weapons and Xander's orbing they were able to remove another five percent of the original numbers.

Sam radioed Jack, "Sir, according to Thor it appears that the Replicators are running to a central location. If we move there we may be able to get rid of the rest of them."

"What about the auxiliary control room?" Jack asked.

"Have one of the other teams keep going there. Once they are in place Thor and I can walk them through what they need to do." Sam replied.

Jack thought about it for a moment, "Right. SG-3, you're heading to the control room; SG-5 and everyone else stays with me. Let's go, people. Carter, lead SG-3 to the room. We'll be following the bugs."

After splitting up, Jack's group followed the fleeing Replicators. Within a few minutes, they arrived at a large door that was partially eaten away. Looking through the hole they could see a massive amount of Replicators were in what looked like a hanger bay.

Jack called over to Xander, "You think you can grab all of them at once?" The pile of bugs was taking up almost a third of the space they could see. Even as they watched they could see more bugs still coming in. Not a lot of them by this time but still some.

"Maybe?" Xander said. "But I'd rather wait a few minutes until we see these things stop coming."

Jack nodded, "We'll wait. But if they start to move we need to try and take them out." Waiting is never fun. They watched as the trickle of bugs slowly grew less and less. Finally, after five minutes it had stopped. They waited another five minutes and when no other bugs appeared, Jack looked at Xander, "Alright kid, it's your show."

Xander gulped, while he had over the course of the last-hours? He wasn't sure of how long they had been fighting. But it felt like hours-He knew he had orbed more bugs than were in the room, but never so many at once. He looked at the room, his nervousness was plain to see. Faith suddenly grabbed him and kissed him. The kiss seemed to last forever.

Jack cleared his throat, "Get a move on kid. And quite kissing my daughter." Xander and Faith broke apart.

Faith looked at him and said, "That was for luck." She glanced at Jack with an indecipherable look. Jack seeing her look at him realized he had just called her his daughter.

"We'll talk about it later, Faith," Jack said.

Xander was feeling better. The nervousness was still there but Faith's kiss had definitely taken the edge off. He was however very glad that he was facing away from Col. O'Neill as the bulge in his pants would probably have upset the heavily armed man. He looked through the partially destroyed door. Concentrating he stared at the mass of Replicators. "Space," He said.

The blue lights of his orbing enveloped the mass of mechanical bugs. They broke apart, it almost looked like they were trying to run as they were orbed into space. The team entered into the hanger. It took almost five minutes to sweep the empty space. They were checking every surface, the room was dark because the Replicators had eaten everything inside of the hanger.

Once Jack was satisfied he radioed Sam. "Carter have Thor check the ship, we think we got them all. How did SG-3 do? Do we have control of the ship's navigation?"

"Sir, as of a few minutes ago Thor is once again in control of the ship. He says that a sensor sweep will take at least twenty minutes to complete. But it looks like the Replicators have been eliminated from inside the ship."

"Roger, Carter, we're heading back to your position now. We'll call you if we get lost," Jack said. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
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Chapter 6 _

Previously in the gate room: Buffy was getting anxious. She had been excited when they were told that they may be needed to help Xander and the others. Since then they had been waiting. And one thing that sucked was waiting. A small part of her realized that what she was feeling must be similar to what Xander had felt as the rest of them systematically cut him out of their lives. She promised herself that she would never allow something like that to happen again.

Daniel had been periodically relaying information and resupply requests to General Hammond. He appeared again at the base of the Stargate. "General Hammond, It looks like they have finished clearing the first transport site. The Replicators have stopped coming to them."

"That's excellent news, Dr. Jackson," General Hammond said. "Are they ready for the next team?"

"No, Sir," Daniel replied. "They need more ammunition and then they are heading for the navigation control room."

"Resupply is being placed in front of the gate as we speak," Hammond said.

Buffy watched as once again supplies disappeared in the white light. "That's it! Next time if they don't have us coming up with them I'm going anyway," she thought to herself. Buffy began pacing a little. She knew she would just have to wait for the right moment to be beamed up.

It was almost an hour later that Daniel appeared again. "General Hammond, Col. O'Neill and the teams took back the main navigational control room. However, the Replicators had destroyed it. They're getting ready to head to the auxiliary control room now. But we are going to need more ammunition."

General Hammond was very grateful that Walter was his aide. Walter had brought up the problem of ammunition early and had already seen to it that more was requisitioned from the main Norad base. "It's ready now, Dr. Jackson."

This was it, the moment she had been waiting for. Buffy moved running towards the pile of ammunition.

Faith saw Buffy start to move. She knew Buffy was going to try and go up to Xander. "Not without me B," she called out as she moved at the same time.

Joyce heard Faith call out and turned to see both her daughters hit the pile of supplies for Xander and the others. "No, girls, No!" Joyce cried out as both the girls and the ammunition disappeared.

SG-10 was still waiting for the order to follow SG-3 and SG-5. All of them had been watching the gate waiting for the order to be beamed up. Seeing the two young women who had been introduced as Buffy and Faith Summers move was a shock. They were almost a blur. No one human was able to move as fast as those two girls moved.

Joyce felt her heart trying to break. Both her girls were up there. She started to cry; part of her realized it may be pregnancy hormones. And if it wasn't, it was still a good excuse. As the tears rolled down her face she was surprised. Giles came up and embraced her.

"They'll be alright, Joyce," Giles said. "But you're going to have a hard time figuring out a sufficient punishment for scaring all of us like this." He paused, "Although if everything goes well perhaps babysitting duties until the child is fifteen would be enough."

Joyce found herself giggling. The tears were still running down her face but Rupert had lifted her spirits. "Damn hormones," she muttered. "Thank you, Rupert," as she hugged him back.

"Ah, yes," Giles smiled at her. "I understand that pregnancy can have rather drastic mood swings." He was still holding her as she dried her eyes.

Daniel had reappeared. When Jack told them that Faith and Buffy had come up with the last shipment he knew he had better reassure the people from Sunnydale. "Joyce," he called out. "Both Faith and Buffy arrived safely." Joyce felt a profound sense of relief at the news. "Jack is incredibly pissed off at them." Joyce heard someone giggling at that, then she realized it was her. "He'll make sure that the only way something happens to them is over his dead body," Daniel promised her.

Joyce straightened up and addressed Daniel. "Well, tell him he can help me find a suitable punishment for both of them once they are safe."

Daniel laughed, "I'll let him know that. I'm sure with all of his experience as an officer he can come up with something they'll hate."

General Hammond had moved down to the Gateroom when he saw what had happened. He heard the last part of the exchange and said, "If he needs any help let him know I would be more than willing to assist him."

"Yes Sir, General Hammond," Daniel said.

Joyce turned to him and said, "Thank you, I'm sure that between all of us we can find some punishment that fits the crime."

Janet had been watching everything, and while obstetrics was not her specialty she knew enough about pregnancy and general human health to see how stressed Joyce was. Walking over to Joyce she said, "Joyce, I'd like you to lay down for a little while." Seeing that Joyce was about to protest she said, "I'll have one of the airmen bring a cot and set it up here. I just want you to try and relax as much as possible. Combat situations are highly stressful, and even if you weren't pregnant I would still recommend you get some rest."

Joyce chose not to argue with Janet. She lay down on the cot that an airman brought in. It was almost an hour later when the hologram came back on. It was Col. O'Neill, "General Hammond," Jack began. "We've managed to clean out the Replicators infesting the ship. Thor is back in control and has already sent a signal to the Asgard for another one of their ships to come and assist him. I'm happy to report we suffered no injuries."

The SGC personnel listening let out a cheer. "Col. O'Neill, I am very pleased to hear that, however, we have some very worried civilians down here. When will the others be coming back down?" General Hammond asked.

"Not for a while, Sir," Jack replied. "However, Thor has asked if the rest of the group from Sunnydale would be willing to meet with him."

Hammond was surprised at the request. However before he could reply Joyce called out, "Yes, please bring us up there." She and the others were already moving to the spot in front of the Stargate. "We're ready, Col. O'Neill." The Asgard transport beam flashed again and Joyce and the others disappeared.  
_

Joyce looked around the room where they had materialized. She could see all of the members of SG-1 standing and talking. Off to the side were Xander, Buffy, and Faith. Faith was already moving towards her.

Faith grabbed her mother in a fierce hug. "I'm sorry I broke my promise," she said as she hugged her Mom.

Joyce hugged her back, she wanted to scream at the girls. But she knew it wouldn't help. "I know you think you are now," Joyce said. "But once Jack, the General and I get done figuring out your punishment you really will be."

Buffy had been walking towards her mother heard that and said, "Wait, Punishment!? But we just wanted to help. And I'm like way too old for grounding."

Joyce turned to her oldest, "Buffy, you could be a hundred years old, and you still wouldn't be too old. You will accept whatever punishment the three of us decide on!" Buffy knew better than to argue with the tone of voice Joyce was using.

Recognizing a lost battle when she heard it, Buffy nodded, "OK, Mom."

Joyce reached out and pulled her other daughter into a hug, "Don't ever do something that reckless again!" Both girls could see Joyce was crying and instantly felt guilty. They both tried to assure her that they were sorry for worrying her, and would never do it again.

Jack came over and cleared his throat. "Mrs. Summers, ah Joyce," He said as he saw her about to correct him. "A friend of ours would like to meet all of you." Jack brought them over to where Thor was laying in his medical pod. "Joyce, Rupert, Willow, Tara I'd like to introduce you to Supreme Command Thor of the Asgard."

Looking down at the small alien Joyce could tell he was badly injured. She could practically feel the pain that this 'person' was in. She wished that there was something she could do to help him. Joyce felt her hands starting to tingle, it was almost like they had fallen asleep, but much more intense. Following her instincts she reached out to the small alien. As Joyce touched Thor a glow enveloped her hands and Thor's body. Joyce could feel something happening; it was a little tiring but at the same time, she could tell that Thor was being healed.

Jack and everyone else were amazed. The green glow from Joyce's hands covered Thor. They could tell he was looking better every second. When the glow stopped, Thor looked at Joyce, "Thank you Joyce Summers. It has been many thousands of years since the Asgard have been in contact with the Furlings. I am pleased that your people still survive. And that you are still using your abilities to aid others."

Thor pushed something in the pod and stood up as it opened. "Colonel O'Neill, we have much to discuss. The presence of Furlings on your planet is a momentous event."

"Excuse me," Giles said. "But what exactly are Furlings and why do you believe Joyce is one?"

"They sound like Ewoks," Tara said. Willow nodded her agreement.

"I know, that's what I said when he called me one,"Xander said.

"An Asgard ship should be here within the next three hours. I would like to invite all of you to accompany me there so that we can discuss this more. Unfortunately, the Beliskner, while once again under my control, has been too damaged," Thor said, "Most likely we will have to destroy it. The damage is too extensive, it would be easier to construct a new ship." Thor's voice held an element of great sadness as he spoke.

"Wait, you're going to scrap her?" Jack asked. "Can't you, oh I don't know, just leave her here? We could definitely use the help."

"Colonel O'Neill, I am sorry, but the treaty with the Goa'uld prevents us from aiding humans by providing technology." Thor continued, "And the damage to the Beliskner means that while it could stay in orbit for another hundred of your years without any problems, as she is now she is not capable of traveling outside of your solar system."

Listening to Thor talk about how they couldn't aid Earth, Jack felt his hopes crash again. Why couldn't any of the advanced races give them a big honking space gun? He almost missed it when Thor specified i'Humans'/i. "Thor what about the Furlings?" Jack asked. "Is there anything that would prevent you from giving the ship to them?" Turning to the Sunnydale group, Jack could already see they were getting ready to voice some exceptions. "Hold on a minute Buddy," Jack said to Thor, who hadn't responded yet. "Can I have a moment with the others to talk privately, before you answer."

"Of course, Colonel O'Neill," Thor replied. Thor was thinking about what Jack had just proposed. If the Asgard gave the ship to the Furlings their would be no conflict. The treaty specified only aid to humans. Thor knew he would have to think about this. And if they did give the ship to the Furlings, they would have to impress upon the humans, that it must remain in the Furlings control, or they would be violating the treaty.

Jack quickly pulled everyone out of the room; all of SG-1 came with the Scoobies.

"Colonel O'Neill, what are you trying to do?" Giles asked.

"Look I know we haven't had time to explain everything yet," Jack began. "But if Thor gives the ship to you, it would be a huge boost to Earth's defense. Even if we can't repair her, we could learn so much from her. It would advance us, hell I don't know how far it would advance us."

"Jack's right," Daniel said. "Right now we are so far behind the Goa'uld that it's been mostly luck that we haven't been destroyed. With this ship, we'd have a real opportunity to learn what we need to know to survive."

"Yeah, OK," Xander said. "I get that, but what are we," he indicated the Scoobies, "supposed to do with a spaceship?"

"You could sell it to the Government," Sam said. "Even if we couldn't pay a fair price for it. You could still be set for life."

"I'm not sure if based on our experiences with the Initiative we would want to sell to the Government," Joyce said.

"And I whilst I can understand the need," Giles said, "I am still a subject of her Majesty. If we were to do anything I would have to insist that the British Government be a party to it."

Jack wasn't happy to hear that but at least the Brits were long time allies. And if it meant getting access to Asgard technology, well the price was worth it. "Alright, I can understand that. And I think even the President would be willing to bring the British in on this for the chance to get Asgard technology." Turning to Joyce, he said, "Now what the hell was the green glowing thing you did to Thor?"

"Yeah, Mom," Buffy added. "That was definitely of the weird."

"I'm not sure," Joyce replied. "I just saw him and knew he was in pain. Then I felt like my hands were 'tingling'? And just had to touch him."

"If I might hazard a guess," Giles began. "I think it may be that you have discovered your bTalent/b. You appear to have the ability to heal." Giles decided to leave out that it made sense as to why Joyce had not been seriously injured by Faith the other night.

"What do you mean by bTalent/b Dr. Giles?" Sam asked.

"Well, whilst we were with the other Xander, he explained that what he called natural born witches had several talents. These were not part of any spell casting abilities. They have fewer restrictions on their use than if we were to cast a spell." Giles could almost see the skepticism going through Major Carter's eyes.

"And all of you have these b"Talents"/b? Are they all similar or do they vary?" Sam asked. She refused to call this magic.

"Carter," Jack said, "Maybe we should pick up that part of the discussion some other time. We've still got to try and convince Thor to give them the ship."

"Uhm, what happens if Thor's wrong?" Tara asked. "I mean just because he said we were these Furlings doesn't mean it's true."

SG-1 paused; Tara had a very good point. Sam was the first to reply. "Genetics," Sam said. As everyone turned to her she continued. "The Asgard must have some record of Furling genetics. They should be able to confirm if you are or aren't related."

"And if we are?" Xander asked. He was honestly unsure of whether or not he hoped they were or weren't these Furlings. In his mind's eye though he saw Shemp saying i"Congratulations! You're your own Species!"/i "I mean how is the Government going to react to that?"

"Alexander Giles," Teal'c began. "I assure you that the people of Stargate Command will not care. And if for some reason they did not want you here, you, and your family, would be welcomed among the Free Jaffa."

"It shouldn't come to that," Daniel said. "This is too big for some bureaucrat to screw up."

Joyce decided to break in, "Maybe we should finish talking to Commander Thor before making any sort of plans. After all, he hasn't said that he would be willing to do what Colonel O'Neill asked."

Jack looked slightly deflated at the possibility of Thor not allowing them to keep the ship. But he knew Joyce was right. "Well, why don't we go see if Thor has an answer?" He turned around and led everyone back into the other room.

Thor looked up as Colonel O'Neill, his team and the Furlings re-entered the room. Jack walked over to him followed by the others. "Colonel O'Neill," Thor greeted him.

"Thor," Jack began, "So have you thought about it?"

"I have, Col. O'Neill," Thor replied. "And it is true nothing in the Treaty would prevent the Asgard from giving aid to the Furlings. However, we could not give them any aid unless it remained in their control. I would also have to discuss this with the Asgard High Council before any decision could be made."

Internally Jack was disappointed, Thor had just made it clear that the people from Sunnydale couldn't turn around and give the ship to Earth. Daniel, however, had noticed the nuances of what Thor had said.

"Thor," Daniel began. "Would there be any problems with the treaty if we were to offer help to the Furlings? I mean it will take a lot of work for them to fix the Beliskner and if we offered to help them would that be allowed?"

"If the Furlings wished to accept aid from your people that would not have any bearing on the treaty," Thor replied.

"Hold on a minute," Xander said. "You keep calling us Furlings. How can you be sure we are these guys?"

"Alexander Giles," Thor began. "The Asgard have known the Furlings for several million of your years. We were very upset when we believed that the Goa'uld had destroyed your race. However if it would assist you in understanding, the Sleipnir will be here shortly. It has the facilities to confirm you are Furlings."

"Sleipnir," Giles murmured. "Wasn't that the name of Odin's horse?"

"Yes," Thor said. "My father was the original commander of the Sleipnir. Currently, it is under the command of my daughter Thrud."

"Hey, will that Loki guy be coming?" Buffy asked.

"You are familiar with Loki?" Thor was surprised, while it was true that Loki was one of the Asgard's most brilliant minds, his loose ethics meant most beings did not want to associate with him. In fact, during the treaty talks with the Goa'uld to include Earth in the protected planets treaty, O'Neill had asked about the stories on Earth of alien abductions that sounded like the Asgard. Thor had been forced to admit that Loki was most likely the source of those stories.

"Ah, yeah," Xander said. "We've, ah, actually never met him. But a person? Being?" Turning to Giles he said, "Help me out here Dad?"

"Uh, Yes, I think it would be easiest to just call Shemp a god of some kind," Giles said. "He is most certainly a higher level being, which we can easily interpret as a god."

"Yeah OK, let's go with that," Xander agreed. "So Shemp, this god I met. He said that I really needed to meet Loki. Something about Loki needing friends. But Jack over there didn't seem too impressed with him. And from what I saw Shemp would have a warped sense of humor. So what's wrong with Loki?"

Thor paused before answering. The Asgard were fully aware that there were beings that could be termed Gods. They Asgard people had either outgrow their own gods or in some cases destroyed them many millions of years ago. For a god-like being to be pointing to Loki, that could be problematic.

"Loki," Thor began. "Is a brilliant scientist. However, he is obsessed with solving the problems of our race's inevitable death." Everyone from Sunnydale was shocked to hear this. "He takes risks which we, the other Asgard, feel violate our moral code in his search for a cure for our condition."

"Wait, 'condition'?" Willow asked. "So you're saying your race is dying and he's trying anything possible to prevent that? What's wrong with that?"

"Loki has violated the rights of other sentients, in his quest for an answer," Thor explained. "While my people still hope to find an answer, there are certain things we will not do."

"Dad," Tara said to Giles. "Do you think it's possible that Xander might be able to help them?" She pointed at Thor as she finished.

Giles thought for a moment, "Commander Thor," he said. "I believe it may be imperative that you bring Loki to talk with us. However, I would also like you to ensure that another of your people watch over him to protect us. This Shemp, I believe we would call him a Chaos or Trickster god. He has not done anything to harm us so far. In fact, I would say he has gone out of his way to aid us. If what we have seen so far from him is true, it may mean that we can aid your people."

Thor was surprised. These Furlings were living up to the tales told by their people. The Furlings had in many ways been the most altruistic of the four races. And these people having only just met the Asgard were offering their aid. "I will see what we can do to introduce you to Loki," Thor said.

Joyce had been thinking about the current situation as well, "Commander Thor," she said. "Would it be possible for you to run some tests for us?" Joyce quickly went on to clarify. "Not only would we like you to confirm your statements that we are these Furling people. But one of the reasons we were at the Stargate was to run several tests. Colonel O'Neill needs confirmation that Faith is his daughter. And we just found out that I am pregnant. However due to circumstances outside of our knowledge, um I need to know if the child is actually mine and who the father is."

Thor was slightly confused. While the Asgard no longer used biological reproduction, his understanding of the process indicated that Joyce's statement held many questions. "We would be able to help you with that once the Sleipnir arrives. However, I am confused by your statement. Would you be able to clarify it?"

Thor's question lead to the next three hours being taken up by the Scoobies explaining their recent encounters with the Alternate dimensional Xander and the changes they had been told had been done to the fabric of reality. SG-1 contributed what they knew of the story. The explanation of the dimensional rift, while Thor was surprised to hear that there was one on Earth. He was familiar with the science behind such occurrences. Unfortunately, while Thor was aware of the nature of the rifts, the Asgard had long ago learned to avoid them, as they inevitably led to greater problems.

During the time they were sharing their tale, Col. O'Neill had asked General Hammond to send up food from the mess hall. While they could eat the MRE's no one really wanted to. He had also requested some chairs and tables since the damage done by the Replicators had destroyed those standard items. By the time the Sleipnir arrived everyone had been sitting at the table talking for hours. Thor was almost comical; his head barely cleared the top of the table when he was sitting. Strangely enough, Buffy found a sense of satisfaction that she was taller than the powerful alien.

Thor quickly arranged for SG-1 and the Furlings to be transferred over with himself to the Sleipnir. SG-3 and SG-5 were sent back to Stargate command. Once onboard the ship, Thor directed one of the crew to take the group to the Asgard medical facilities. While that was going on he went to talk with Thrud and contact the Asgard council.

As the Scoobies and SG-1 were sitting in the Asgard medical bay, the Scoobies were amazed. The Asgard while small, were being very helpful. Jack commented to everyone after the Asgard collected the materials they would need to run their tests, "See that is the sign of a bTruly/b advanced civilization." When everyone looked at him questioningly, he added, "No needles involved!"

Thor came into the room accompanied by another Asgard. Walking over to the group, he said, "My friends, I would like to present my daughter, Thrud."

Xander really wanted to ask how he could tell. As far as he could see there was no difference between Thor and Thrud. Thrud addressed the group, "I am pleased to meet you. When my Father informed me of your presence, I was amazed and skeptical. But the tests have shown that he was correct once again." Thrud's voice had a slightly higher pitch than Thor's did. That was really the only thing Xander could identify as to their differences.

"If you would accompany us," Thor said. "I believe it would be best if we met to discuss everything in a more comfortable room." Thor led the group to another room on the ship. Everyone could tell that this room had been prepared for non-Asgard. The tables and chairs were something that could easily fit a human, while the Asgard seats did not make them look like children trying to sit at the Adults table.

As they were being seated, another Asgard came in and joined them. "Allow me to present Eir. She is one of the Asgards best, you would call them, doctors," Thrud said.

'Greetings," Eir said. "Commander Thor has told me of your questions and I have the results from our tests. I can share them with you now if you would like."

Everyone quickly agreed that they would like to hear the results. Eir began explaining. "From our tests, we were able to confirm that all of you," she pointed out the Scoobies, "have significant amounts of Furling genetics. The Furlings were much more varied in their racial characteristics than the other three races. Because of your human genetics, this would show as a third strand of what you call DNA. each of you contains the third strand, but not all of what," Eir paused as if considering her words. "you might call them genetic markers are active. According to our historical data, this was not uncommon among the Furlings. Alexander Giles has the highest degree of active markers. Almost sixty percent of your markers are active. Faith Summers and Buffy Summers both show almost forty percent of their markers active, while the rest of you show between thirty and thirty-five percent of the markers being active."

Joyce decided to ask her most important question, "What about the baby? What can you tell me about it?"

Eir looked at her pad, "Your daughter shows almost sixty-five percent of her markers will be active. We were also able to determine that she is healthy. And the father of your child matches the genetic markers from Rupert Giles."

"Yes!" Xander yelled. When everyone looked at him he sheepishly said, "Not me! See Buffy, I didn't get your Mom pregnant."

Buffy looked at him and shook her head, "Nope, I still say it's your fault. Even if Giles is the father it wouldn't have happened without you screwing it up."

"Buffy!" Joyce said. "I don't want to hear you calling your new sister a screw-up."

Buffy looked down, "Sorry Mom. But it's still Xander's fault."

"Uhm. Yes," Giles said. "Be that as it may, I believe that this is neither the time nor place to be discussing whose fault any of this is." Giles was feeling slightly shocked. Whilst he was overjoyed with having Tara and Xander as his children, he had never had to deal with a baby. And quite frankly he was not looking forward to changing nappies.

"What about Faith," Jack asked. "Is she my daughter?"

Thor answer, "Yes, Colonel O'Neill, our tests did confirm that Faith Summers is your child."

Jack had been expecting Thor's answer. Whether or not Faith was originally his daughter, from the stories he had heard from the Sunnydale group, he was sure by this point that Faith would be his daughter. Turning to her Jack smiled a lopsided grin, "Welcome to the Family, Faith," he said with genuine warmth in his voice.

Faith hearing that, nodded and quietly said, "Thanks."

Daniel looked at Jack and said, "Come on Jack, you can do better than that! At least go give your daughter a hug." Daniel emphasized his point by pushing Jack out of his chair and towards Faith.

Both Faith and Jack looked like they didn't know what to do. The resolution came from a surprising source. Sam got up and went towards both of them, grabbing first Faith she hugged her. "Welcome to the family. Jack can be hard to be around at times but you'll find he's one of the best men you'll ever meet."

Jack was stunned, Carter almost never used his first name. Once Sam released Faith she turned to Jack. She pulled him into a hug as well, "Congratulations Jack. Now keep quiet and hug your daughter." Pulling away from him she pushed him into Faith.

Faith was tense as Jack hugged her. "Hey everything's going to be alright," Jack whispered to her. "We'll figure it out, between me and your Mom." Faith nodded and relaxed into Jack's embrace.

Breaking up the hug, everyone resumed their seats. Xander was holding Faith's hand and Joyce was smiling. Everyone from Earth was feeling very relieved.

Thor began speaking again, "I am pleased that this news is agreeable to you. I have also talked with the Asgard High Council. They have agreed to leave the Beliskner in the control of Alexander Giles. Since our test indicate he is predominantly Furling, this will not violate our treaty with the Goa'uld. However, you must all understand that the ownership of the Beliskner must remain with him. You are not permitted to sell or give the ship away."

"Uhm. OK," Xander said. "But it would be alright for me to have others helping to fix her up, Right?"

"That would be between you and your people. It is not for the Asgard to dictate who you allow on the Beliskner," Thor said. "I would ask you to chose a new name for her, though. I have had the Beliskner under my command for over a thousand years and would like to continue to use the name."

Xander didn't even stop to think, "Enterprise," he said. "I'll call her the Enterprise." Buffy and Faith groaned.

"Really, Boytoy?" Faith asked. "Can you get any geekier?" Buffy said.

"Hey" came from both Willow and Jack.

"Enterprise is a great name," Jack declared. "I put that in as a suggestion for when we build our first ship." Sam just shook her head at Jack. She knew better than to fight this battle.

"So um, would it be possible if when Loki gets here, maybe he could teach us a bit about the Enterprise?" Xander asked. "I mean this is way beyond what high school covered. And I'd rather not accidentally blow her up."

Thor leaned forward. "The High Council was reluctant to send Loki to meet with you. However, it was decided to allow him to come under the supervision of several of our people. And since he may be here for some time, I believe one of our people could explain things to you. However, any teaching we give must only be done with yourselves, or with other Furlings. While they do not contain the majority of active markers at this time, they have enough that if you claim them as Furlings we will accept that."

Sam was beside herself, "Wait," she began. "You mean you would be willing to have another Asgard teach Xander and the others Asgard science? But you wouldn't allow any humans in the class?"

"The Furlings were one of the Four," Thor stated. "As such our teaching their young would be a form of mutual assistance, since the older members of their race are not able to assist them." Thor paused, he knew that the Asgard were walking a thin line of deniability with regards to the Goa'uld. "If I may make a suggestion. I am sure that the people of Earth would like to assist the Furling people. However, we would want to ensure that the Treaty that places Earth under the protection of the Asgard from the Goa'uld, was not violated. I would recommend that you contact your representative and allow the Asgard to act as moderators for any discussions you have."

Jack was stunned. While he knew that Thor had helped them in the past, this was going above and beyond. If this worked out within the next ten years Earth might be able to stand on its own. "Thor, would you be able to stay for these talks? Or would it be someone else?"

"I will be available for the next two Earth days. By then another ship carrying Loki and the others will arrive," Thor answered.

Jack nodded, "I think we need to talk to our people. General Hammond and the President need to know this. Would you mind sending us back down to Earth for now?"

Thor nodded and said, "Of course, O'Neill. When you're ready to talk to us again, Alexander can come and tell us, or you may signal us with this," Thor handed Jack a small smooth crystal.

"Thanks, buddy," Jack said. Thor nodded and initiated the transport beam to return them to the SGC.

The last twenty-four hours had been demanding for George Hammond. He was used to SG-1 getting into interesting situations. However, normally they did so when they were away on missions through the Stargate. The last day had made him glad he had a spare uniform in his office and a place he could rest while waiting for updates. He had left several hours before with orders to come get him if SG-1 needed his help. Closing his eyes he grabbed what sleep he could find.

George wasn't sure how long he had been sleeping when there was a knock on his door. An airman called out, "General Hammond, Sir, SG-1 has returned and Colonel O'Neill said he needed to meet with you immediately."

George sat up, "Understood, please tell Col. O'Neill I'll meet him in conference room one in twenty minutes." From the other side of the door, the airman replied, "Yes Sir."

George got up and quickly showered and put on a fresh uniform. Twenty minutes later he was in conference room one with SG-1 and the group from Sunnydale. "Colonel O'Neill," Hammond greeted Jack. "What can I do for you?"

Jack looked more excited than George could ever remember him being. "General, Sir, sorry to have to wake you but this was too important to wait," Jack began. "The Asgard have confirmed that the group from Sunnydale are Furlings."

"What?" Hammond asked. He was familiar with the four races, the Ancients, the Nox, the Asgard and the Furlings. However, he would never have expected that people born on Earth would be Furlings.

"Yes, Sir," Sam said. "Not only that but they have offered to leave the Beliskner in the control of the Furling people."

"Hey," Xander said. "Could you not call us Furlings, it makes us sound like we're Ewoks. And even the little guys said we're not one hundred percent Furling."

"What would you prefer we call you then, Alexander?" Hammond asked.

"Well I've always called us the Scoobies," Xander grinned.

"Xander," Giles interrupted. "Whilst I understand and at times appreciate your somewhat unorthodox sense of humor, I would rather we not be called the Scoobies in any official papers."

Unfortunately, the others were agreeing with Giles. "Fine, what do you think we should have them call us then?" Xander said with a pout.

"Well far be it from me to decide for the group," Giles said. "But perhaps it might be best to describe us as the 'Furling Descendants'. This would acknowledge any ancestry that was being referred to and still differentiate us."

Since no one else had a better name they quickly agreed to be called the Furling Descendants.

"Alright since we have determined how you would like to be referred to," General Hammond said. "How will this affect Earth?"

"Sir," Jack began. "The Asgard have said they would provide teachers for the Scoobies," Daniel smirked as he used Xander's name for the group. "And that they would allow us to assist them in repairing the Beliskner."

"Hey," Xander cut in again. "It's the Enterprise. Thor asked me for a new name and it's going to be the Enterprise."

"So will you be turning the ship over to us?" Hammond asked. If they did it would be a major boon to advancing Earth's knowledge.

"Sir,' Sam said. "The Asgard have said that they could not allow that. The Enterprise," You could almost hear her grimace as she said the name. "Has to remain under the control of Xander. However, they do not have any objections if Xander's group wants to allow us to assist them in repairing her." Sam smiled. "That means that while we won't be able to take her apart, we can learn from her system by helping to repair them and possibly build our own."

"I see," Hammond said. "And why are we having this meeting?" George knew there was something that was not being said.

"Well Sir," Daniel began. "Before the Asgard turn over the ship, they want us to have a written agreement with the Furling Descendants. That way they can ensure that nothing they do will violate the Protected Planets Treaty."

General Hammond was amazed. While he did not like politics, you didn't get to the rank of General without understanding them and exhibiting a high level of skill at navigating the political waters. "I'm going to need to call the President Immediately," Hammond said.

As Hammond was preparing to get up Giles said, "General Hammond, there are two things that it is essential to have take place, before we can enter into any talks. The President must shut down the Initiative, and return Kennedy DeSilva to us. Finally I must insist that representatives from Her Majesty's Government be included in the talks."

While Hammond and the other members of SG-1 might believe that Giles was just patriotic, if they had asked and he had been willing to answer them. Giles would have told him that the main reason he wanted another Government involved was so that it would ensure that the knowledge was spread around, rather than being concentrated in the hands of a few. He had seen how that worked with the Watcher's Council and wanted to do anything possible to avoid that in the future.

"While I can not make any promises," General Hammond said. "I will tell the President of your requirements. I'll return as soon as I can, Colonel O'Neill if you and SG-1 would come with me, I think it's best if you're on hand if the President has any questions. In the meantime, if the rest of you would like I can have you shown to our VIP quarters, where you can refresh yourselves and then to the mess hall."

"Showers?" Buffy said, "That would be of the good."

"Yeah. No offense, Boytoy," Faith said. "But you're a little rank." Xander's only answer to that was a heartfelt "Hey" Faith just smiled at him.

As the Scoobies were led to the promised rooms, Hammond and SG-1 went to call the president.

After showering, the Scoobies gathered together in the mess hall. One of the unique features of the SGC was the twenty-four-hour mess. Because of the off-world teams and the high amount of scientists that lost track of time, General Hammond had issued orders that the mess was to be fully staffed twenty-four hours a day.

The Scoobies had loaded up. Even Joyce found she was much hungrier than usual. Faith and Buffy had both grabbed two trays of food. Xander had grabbed almost as much. Only Giles, Willow, and Tara were eating their normal amount.

Willow was the first to talk, "We really need to decide what we should ask for? I mean you saw the way Colonel O'Neill looked at the thought of getting access to the Beliskner."

"Enterprise," Xander said around a full mouth of food.

Buffy just looked at him, "Whatever. Willow's right, though. I mean I know we shouldn't be greedy but still, if we can make sure we're protected and if I can get all the shoes I will ever want then that's a good thing, right?"

"Armageddon," Faith said. When everyone looked at her she explained, "The movie? We need to do like they did, ya know tell em what we want, like the not paying taxes thing."

For the younger group that made perfect sense. They still ended up explaining it to Giles and Joyce. As they were talking Xander realized that none of them were exactly cut out to negotiate with the Government. "Hey guys," Xander said. "Look I think we're going to need some help here. I mean none of us are exactly cutthroat negotiators."

"What do you have in mind, Xander?" Joyce asked.

"Simple. We need someone who's ruthless when it comes to winning. Someone who can negotiate and take no prisoners. Someone who won't back down no matter what," Xander said.

"Xander, whilst I can agree with your points, it is obvious you have someone in mind," Giles said. "So please leave off the dramatics and simply tell us who you are thinking of."

Xander looked at the others, "Cordelia," he said. As Buffy and Willow broke out in protests he continued. "Look I know you guys didn't know her as well as I did. But she knew a lot about what happened to her Dad. And if we make it worth her while she'll fight tooth and nail to make sure we get the best deal possible. She might not be a lawyer, but right now I think she's our best option. Plus I think the Asgard will be watching out for us."

Faith knew Xander's history with Cordelia, "That the only reason, Boytoy?" she asked.

Xander looked her in the eye, "No it's not. I think we owe it to her, I hurt her really bad, and I'm not trying to get her back or anything. I still would like to be able to help her out. If we offer to include her in whatever deal she helps us make, I think that would go a long way to making it up to her."

Willow really wanted to object to Cordelia being involved in anything. But when Xander mentioned the Fluke, she knew he could have easily included her in who owed Cordelia. The little voice in her head said i"Time to grow up./i "Xander's right," Willow said. "I know I've never gotten along with Cordy, but we, Xander and I, we owe her. And he's also right about how she'll fight for us if we make it worth her while. Or if she thinks it's, you know, the right thing to do."

Buffy really couldn't argue the point when Willow came out in favor of Xander's idea. Everyone else quickly agreed. Even Faith didn't seem upset. She could tell Xander was just being Xander: the same guy who had come into her motel room to try and help her after Finch's death. It was who he was, he didn't abandon his friends or family. "Do it," Faith said, adding her own stamp of approval.

"Before we do anything I think we should make sure that it won't cause too many problems here," Joyce suggested. "After all, I doubt that General Hammond will object to us bringing in someone to help us." Once again everyone could see the logic of that and they decided to wait till they talked to the General before contacting Cordelia.  
_

Once Hammond and SG-1 reached his office, George called the President. One advantage of running SGC was that George had a direct line to the President. It was only a matter of a minutes before George was talking with President Hayes.

"General Hammond," President Hayes said. "What can I do for you?" The President's morning had already been eventful. It had started with an urgent call from both the British Prime Minister and the Queen of England. They had been very upset to learn that the United States had a program for exploring the galaxy and had decided not to include them. The alliance between the British and the United States was extremely durable, but he knew they were going to be demanding inclusion in the Stargate program. The fact that they had also brought up another covert operation, the Initiative, and raised several concerns with what it was doing, had meant he spent the rest of his morning being briefed on the existence of monsters. At this point, he was very happy to be talking about Aliens rather than vampires and demons.

"Mr. President," Hammond began. "I have SG-1 in my office and we are on the speakerphone. We have a very important development with regards to the Asgard." Hammond then proceeded to tell the president everything that the Asgard had revealed. The existence of a group of the Furling race, who even though they were born on Earth, the Asgard still considered part of the original four races. The fact that the Asgard were willing to teach these Furling Descendants everything they could about Asgard technology and that they would be leaving a damaged ship in the care of one Alexander Giles, was astonishing.

After his summation of what was currently happening Hammond added, "Sir, The Asgard have said they would like to be present while we work out an agreement with the Furlings. They stated that this was to ensure that nothing we agreed upon violated the Protected Planets Treaty."

The President nodded as he was listening, "What do you think, Colonel O'Neill? You and your team have had the most contact with the Asgard."

"Sir, I think the Asgard are trying to help us," Jack began. "But the treaty has their hands tied. This would allow them to help us through a third party. It's almost the same way we've sent in advisers to other areas of the world." Jack knew that the President would easily understand the reference. "If we can come to an agreement, even with learning from the Scoobies, it could be a huge advancement for us."

"The 'Scoobies'?" President Hayes asked.

"Sir, that is what young Alexander Giles referred to their group as," General Hammond explained. "I believe it holds the same meaning for them as several of our own military units have when it comes to unit call signs."

"Ah, I believe I understand." The President replied. "What do you need from me to make this happen?"

George drew in a breath, "Mr. President, Sir, They have a few requirements before they are willing to negotiate. They are currently being targeted by a group called the Initiative, they are demanding that it be shut down. And according to them, the group is currently holding a young woman named Kennedy DeSilva prisoner. She is to be immediately released." George paused they could hear the president cursing. "Sir, is everything alright?" Hammond asked.

"Sorry George," The President said. "But you're the second call I've had today about that program. The first was very early this morning from the British Prime Minister and Her Majesty the Queen." The President paused, "They also informed me of their displeasure that we had not included them in the Stargate Program."

"Well Sir," Hammond said. "I don't know if that will make their second demand any easier. They have also insisted that a representative from the British Government be included in the talks."

Hayes paused. You didn't become President of the United States without learning how to turn shit into political roses. "Ask the group if they would be willing to allow us to claim credit for inviting the British. If they will, I'll contact the Prime Minister immediately."

Hammond could see where the President was going with this. "It may take us a few minutes to get someone here, Sir. Would you like us to call you back once they are present?"

"No," President Hayes responded. "If I'm talking to you, I don't have to deal with any of the other idiots right now." The president chuckled at his own joke.

"I was unaware that Senator Kinsey would be a party to this conversation," Teal'c stated. The President, who was not a fan of the esteemed Senator, laughed at Teal'c comment.

"Sir," Jack began. "I should let you know, the Scoobies, they're not fans of the Senator either. In fact, my daughter's first words to me were, "Who's Kinsey and why is he such a dick?" If he gets involved in this it would be a very bad thing."

Having been briefed only a few days ago the President was aware of project Achilles, "Colonel O'Neill I take it that you have confirmed she is your daughter. Because with her saying that, I would say she certainly sounds like she's yours."

"Sir," General Hammond said. "The Asgard confirmed that Faith Arlene Summers is Colonel O'Neill's daughter." The team and General Hammond continued to talk as they waited for the arrival of the Scoobies.

When there was a knock on the door, it opened to reveal Rupert and Alexander Giles. "Thank you, Airman," General Hammond said as the two men entered. After quickly telling them of his request to take credit for including the British in the talks, the President asked if they would agree to that requirement.

Giles looked at Xander and then responded, "I believe that would be acceptable. However, we still require that you shut down the Initiative and that Kennedy DeSilva is to be released unharmed. In addition to that, we would like to bring in someone to work with us whilst we are negotiating with you and the Asgard."

When the President asked about why they would want a young woman who was not a lawyer to represent them, when they would be more than willing to provide help to them, Giles responded. "Ms. Chase has in the past been a great aid to us. And certain members of our group feel we owe it to her to make sure she is a part of this. Whilst we would appreciate anyone from both yourselves and the crown who would like to assist us, I am afraid we must also acknowledge that they would not necessarily be working with our best interests in mind. Ms. Chase will, however, be working with our groups best interests in mind since she will directly benefit from that."

"I can understand your points, Dr. Giles," the President said. "I'll authorize everything to include Ms. Chase. I will need some time to make arrangements with our counterparts in England and I assume you would need to contact Ms. Chase. If it would be agreeable to you, I would like to begin the talks in twelve hours."

Giles thought about it. "I believe that would be fine, I will ask Xander to fetch Ms. Chase and whilst the rest of us are resting if some here could bring her up to date. That would be a great will need an outside line to contact Ms. Chase from so that Xander does not cause any problems with her."  
_

Giles was calling Cordelia, the Scoobies knew that she was working with Angel and decided to try to reach her there first. While he was attempting to contact her Xander was trying to find her through his abilities. Once he knew he could locate her he waited for Giles to tell him it was alright to orb to her.

For Cordelia Chase the last few days had been intense. With the psycho child of Angelus, Penn trying to destroy them, and really did Angelus have any vamps that he made that weren't psycho? She shook her head, she really needed to get a grip. These visions sucked. She wasn't sure how Doyle had dealt with the pain. The phone started to ring, Cordy didn't recognize the number. Picking up the phone she said, "Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."

"Cordelia," Giles said. "Good morning, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Giles," Cordelia said. "No, right now it's slow. Did you need to talk to Angel? Everything's alright in Sunnydale right?"

"Ah, yes," Giles began. "Currently, we are not in Sunnydale. And we've found we are in need of your assistance. Several events in recent days have resulted in some rather startling developments."

"That doesn't sound good Giles," Cordelia said.

"I can assure you, my dear," Giles replied. "They have actually been more beneficial than we could have ever imagined. However, as I said we are in need of your help. Now Xander will be arriving momentarily, and please do not panic when you see him arrive."

"What do you mean," Cordelia began as blue lights started to appear in front of her. "Don't panic…Holy Shit!" The blue lights disappeared and Xander Harris was standing in front of her. Cordelia dropped the phone and said, "Xander how did you do that?"

Angel from the inside of his office heard Cordy call out 'Holy Shit'. As he opened the door he saw the blue lights die out and Harris was standing there grinning. "Harris, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Hey Cordy, Deadboy," Xander said.

Angel could feel something was wrong, Angelus was screaming inside of him to attack or run away. He wasn't sure which. He cautiously moved out of his office towards Cordy. "What the hell are you?" Angel asked. "Because you sure aren't Xander Harris."

Xander grinned, "Wow Captain Forehead, you're right. I'm not Xander Harris. I'm Alexander Giles." This elicited outcries from both Cordy and Angel. Xander just smiled, he really hadn't thought of how much fun this was going to be. "And as for what I am, I believe Dad called me a Demigod."

"Right Demigod of Dorks,' Cordelia snorted. "Who would make you a demigod?"

"Yeah surprised all of us," Xander agreed. "But if you want the full story Cordy, you're going to have to come with me."

Angel was instantly on the defensive. Whatever this thing was he wasn't letting it take Cordy. "I don't think so," Angel said. "Whatever you are you're not touching Cordelia."

Xander actually laughed, having faced down Angelus in the hospital, without any powers he really did not feel any intimidation now that he had powers. Cordelia was looking at them both, while she liked the fact that Angel was trying to protect her, who the hell did he think he was saying who she could go with and where she could or couldn't go.

"Angel," Xander began. "I'm not here to fight with you."

Cordelia snorted, "Yeah we all know how that would end."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure it would end with Angel being a pile of dust," Xander said, confidence dripping from his voice. "Allow me to demonstrate." He looked at Angel and thought better of orbing him. He wasn't sure if orbing would destroy the undead. Glancing at the desk Cordy was sitting behind he saw her bottle of water. "Water," Xander called out. The bottle sparkled with blue lights and disappeared, reappearing in Xander's hand. Opening it he took a drink.

"Hey," Cordelia called out. "That's my water!"

"Well sorry," Xander said sarcastically, "Here you go." He orbed the bottle back to where it had been sitting. "If it came down to a fight Angel I could do that to you, Put you into the sunlight, or just remove your legs." Xander was deadly serious as he said the last part.

Angel hearing Xander knew that the man still wanted to see him as dust in the wind. And of all of Buffy's friends, Harris had been the only one to never back down from him, as Angel or as Angelus. "What do you want Harris?"

"First of all Deadboy, it's Giles," Xander said. "Turns out Ripper and my Mom were more than just friends back in the day. Which actually means you were right about me Cordy, I am a bastard," Xander had a large smile on his face. "And I couldn't be happier about that."

Cordelia had been processing what was happening, whatever had happened had changed Xander he was much more relaxed and confident. And he had some serious power going on. "Why are you here Dweeb?"

"Well you Majesty," Xander said. "Like I said, we need your expertise. But in order to get the full story, you need to come with me. And you might be gone a day or two. We need you for some negotiations, which could be very lucrative."

"Lucrative," Cordelia said in disbelief. "How would you be involved with anything lucrative?"

Xander smirked at her, "Same way I can do this." He orbed the far side of the room and back. "Now I know I've hurt you in the past, and I can never make that up to you," A suddenly serious Xander said. "But I owe you for that, and this would allow me to at least make a very small down payment on what is owed."

Cordelia suddenly felt very small, "You don't owe me, Xander. I know what you did for me." Cordelia thought back to the last months of her senior year when everything went to hell. And how Xander, never took advantage of it to get revenge for her airing all of his dirty laundry at school.

"I disagree," Xander said. "But either way, we need your help. And if you decide you don't want to be part of this deal, well that's OK. We would never try to force you. But after you hear everything I think you'll be very happy with the results."

"Cordy's not going anywhere with you," Angel declared. He placed his hand on Cordelia's shoulder to make her stay put.

Suddenly Xander's face was split into a huge smile. Angel had half a second to wonder iWhat the Hell?/i before Cordelia erupted. Knocking his hand off of her shoulder, Cordelia rounded on Angel. "Just who in the Hell do you think you are?" Cordelia demanded. "You may be my boss here at work, but you do not try and tell me, who I can go with, or where I can go. And you better get that through your head before I get back!"

Cordelia grabbed her purse and stalked over to Xander, "Move it, dweeb. If it's going to be a few days I need to stop by my apartment first." Cordelia continued stalking out of the hotel not really waiting to see if Xander followed.

"Smooth moves Captain Forehead," Xander called out as he followed Cordelia out into the morning sun.

After stopping at Cordelia's apartment to get her clothes, Cordelia turned to Xander. "Alright, dweeb spill!"

Xander smiled at her, "All will be revealed Cordy, just take my hand." He held out his hand once Cordelia had taken a hold he orbed them back to the SGC conference room one.

Arriving back Xander saw Joyce, Giles and Faith were waiting for him. Along with an Air Force Major, he hadn't met. The man looked up as they materialized, having been forewarned about their abilities, Major Davis was able to take it all in stride.

"Mr. Giles, Ms. Chase," Maj. Davis said. "I am Major Paul Davis, I'm here to read Ms. Chase into the Stargate program. Once that's done I'll leave her to you."

Cordelia didn't know if it was Xander's weird way of traveling or what, but she needed to sit down. Dropping her bag, she quickly sat down.

Cordelia barely recognized Faith as the girl grinned at her. Walking over to Xander and putting her arm around his waist she said, "Yeah Boytoy's orbing takes some getting used to."

Cordelia was about to open her mouth and say something to the little psycho slut when Xander interrupted her. "Cordy, I'm warning you now," Xander said. "I know you want to say something cutting Faith down. Don't do it. Once we explain why you'd just be sorry. So please take my word for now and Don't!"

Cordelia looked at him flipped her hair and said, "Whatever dweeb. OK, you Air Force guy explain to me why I'm here." Queen C was in the house and she would not be caught out.

Xander smiled at her. "I'm going to get a little bit of sleep. I'd say let the Major take care of Cordelia, he can give her the highlights and then once we get up we can answer any questions she had." Joyce looked like she was going to argue so Xander added, "Joyce, please you really need your rest right now." Looking at Giles he said, "Back me up here Dad."

Giles nodded, "I'm afraid Xander is quite right, Joyce. Go and get some rest. I'll ask Major Davis to bring Cordelia to my room after he's done so that I can answer any questions she may have."

Joyce nodded and turned to leave, looking at Cordelia she said, "Thank you for coming Cordelia. I know this means a great deal to Xander and also to Willow." That surprised Cordelia. She could understand Xander feeling guilty but Willow had never shown the slightest signs of remorse for what had happened.

Cordelia turned to Major Davis, who really wasn't bad looking and listened as he started to explain. The briefing with Major Davis took almost three hours. By the time he was done Cordelia understood everything she could about the Stargate, program. The Major had also explained to her about the Asgard, and how her friends were all part alien. Now that was easily believed in Xander's case. He also told her that from what he had been told they had requested that she be allowed to represent their interests during the negotiations. With the stipulation that anything, the Governments of the United States and Great Britain agreed to would include her.

Cordelia knew that this was Xander's fault. He hadn't been lying to her. If she played her cards right she could get back everything the Government had taken from her, the house, the clothes, the money. She could have it all back and more. From what Cordelia had been told Xander and the others were being given the mother load of advanced alien technology. She knew she needed to make sure that they retained the rights to the technologies.

The Government could use it but they needed to be paid for it. And anything that could be marketed to the public, hell they could destroy David Nabbit, but he was a very nice guy so maybe they might want to use his company to bring new products to market.

Looking at the clock she saw the entire briefing had taken almost three hours. Giles had looked dead on his feet. She decided it might be better to see about some food and a nap herself before talking to the Scoobies because once the talks with these Asgard started she didn't think she would be getting much sleep.

_  
Yes technically Cordy is just after episode 11, and David wasn't introduced until Episode 20. However, Since Angel really did not have an overarching plotline for season one I have taken the liberty of saying the WarZone already happened.

I want to thank everyone here at who has reveiwed. I did want to clarify a few of the comments from the reviews.  
Kminari Ganos Lal and all of the Ascended don't really care about the non-ascended. And when they ascended there were enough Furlings that they couldn't take them out. When Ra and the Goa'uld did destroy them in Canon the Ancients did nothing. In this story she was very careful to never state anything she didn't need to say. And finally she's not afraid of the Furlings. She's afraid of what some of her own people will do, or what the Ori might do. Remember in SG1 she actually ended up helping them find Merlin.

Celf Thank you, I currently have 3 chapter in each of the story lines in beta, so there is more coming.

Grd You are so right about Walsh

Andrewjameswilliams I'm wondering what it will take myself and Thor didn't help her to accept it was magic.

Nedy Rahn While there has not been a party wipe-out I did kill two characters that will be in upcoming chapters. And neither of them were true bad guys. I will say one is blonde the other a brunette. - Yes I am Evil, Muhuhuhuhuu..cough...cough sorry about that.

PeanutGallery59 Even if Jack were to cut it off from Xander either Xander's own healing or Joyce could probably heal it up. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate or Charmed. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
_

Chapter 7 _

Senator Kinsey was not pleased. Something was going on, and it was something big. The only thing he knew for sure was that the President had been called by the Prime Minister of England at four a.m. Heads of State didn't do anything that rude without cause. Either he wanted to make a point or there was a crisis of some kind.

What's more, his contacts in the C.I.A. had notified him that General Hammond now had the complete file on Project Achilles. Which meant that O'Neill would soon know about his daughter. Kinsey smiled, he'd read the man's profile. The loss of his son had almost killed him. Finding out he had a daughter would have been a great thing for the man. That's why he had made sure to try and prevent that from ever happening.

Although now it might be a good thing. The Trust had been looking at a plan to kidnap family members of certain officials to make them more compliant with their demands. O'Neill was never considered as a target. He hadn't had anyone outside of the military who would make him that vulnerable. But now he had a daughter. "If I let him get close to her," Kinsey mused. "Then we take her. He'll do what he's told or we can have her suffer a fatal tragedy just like her brother."

Kinsey was feeling much better as he looked at the possibilities. "Now if I can just get one of my people to find out what is happening with that idiot Hayes, well this day could be perfect."

Cordelia had woken up and at first hadn't realized where she was. Then it all came rushing back. Xander was an alien. Aliens were real, and Xander was an alien. Really it bore repeating. Getting up Cordy quickly used the small bathroom in her room to freshen up. Checking her hair, makeup, and clothes, Cordy smiled like she was going to a big audition. "You can do this!" she told herself. Opening the door to her room she looked out, sitting at a desk at the end of the corridor was some military guy.

Airman Temp looked up as the door to one of the VIP rooms opened. A young good looking woman stepped out of the room. "Can I help you, Ma'am?" He asked getting to his feet.

"Yeah, where's the dweeb," Cordelia said. "And Giles. I need to talk to them."

"Ah the Dweeb, Ma'am," Temp asked. "I don't have anyone listed under that name. I have three Giles's: Tara, Xander, and Rupert. Which one did you need?"

"Xander and Rupert," Cordelia said.

"One moment, Ma'am," Airman Temp said. He picked up the phone he had at his desk and called the two rooms. After explaining that Ms. Chase would like to meet with them Rupert Giles asked him to call all the others and to arrange a conference room and food for them. Following the instructions that had been given to all the base personnel from General Hammond, Airman Temp was more than happy to comply.

Twenty minutes later the entire Scooby gang sans Oz was meeting in a conference room. Coffee, Tea, and Soda had been brought in. The same airman who brought the drinks took a massive food order from the group.

Cordelia, when she heard how much Xander was planning to eat, said, "What the Hell is going on Xander? You never eat that much!" Cordelia knew something was weird.

"Actually Cordy," Xander began, "ever since I started Orbing I've just been really hungry. I mean I can't beat Buffy or Faith in an eating contest, but I'm getting close. And I don't know why."

"Uhm, I have an idea," Tara said. "I think it is based on your powers. When you orb you have to use some energy. And the more you orb the more energy you use. So your body is compensating. You're eating more to make up the energy."

"That's actually a very good hypothesis Tara," Giles said. "And it would also explain Joyce being so hungry earlier. After healing Thor your body must have needed the extra energy."

"Wait," A pissed of Cordelia said. "You mean Dweeb gets powers that let him eat as much as he wants, Mrs. Summers gets powers and it's the same deal, and I get the bDamn Visions/b that come with crippling headaches? Who the hell is handing out these Powers?"

Everyone was looking at Cordelia, "Cordy I think you neglected to tell us something," Xander said. "Like the fact that you have powers?"

"And what's this about crippling headaches?" Joyce asked.

"Oh um yeah," Cordelia began. "I sort of am a seer. Only thing is anytime the Powers that Be send me a vision, it comes with a whole lot of pain." Everyone was suddenly looking at Cordelia. They were very intent; in fact, if someone had asked Cordelia to use one word to describe the looks she would have said "Freaky."

"Xander," Giles said. "Could you bring the Warding Crystal from the shop here?"

"I don't want to risk it, Dad," Xander said while standing up. "Be right back." Xander returned holding a crystal, that glowed white.

Cordelia looked at the crystal; it was massive. And the base was ivory. But the crystal-if it wasn't for the size she would have sworn that is was a diamond. But it couldn't be a diamond. Could it? "Is that," Cordelia began.

"A diamond," Buffy said. "Yes. Yes it is, Cordelia."

"How," Cordelia was stunned. "I've never seen one that big." Xander who was still holding the crystal smirked. Faith laughed out loud. And once she realized what she said Cordelia looked at Xander and said, "Oh please, as if."

"Actually," Faith said. "Boytoy beats that in length, although Thank God he's not that thick."

Everyone was suddenly looking at the crystal, nine inches tall and three to four inches around. Cordelia gulped, Joyce said in a very low voice, "Like Father, Like Son."

While people without Slayer hearing couldn't hear Joyce, both her daughters heard her. "Ewww Mom," Buffy yelled. "I don't need to know about you and Giles having sex!"

Faith grinned even more, "Way to go Mom!" Joyce blushed as Faith said that and she realized everyone knew that she and Giles had at least been together in the past.

Cordelia was staring at the crystal, "Can I touch it?" Suddenly Xander laughed. Willow and Tara were giggling. In fact, everyone was laughing in one form or another. Cordelia realizing the implications of her statement actually blushed. "I meant the crystal!" she protested.

"Sure you did Queen C," Faith said. "But Xander's mine. If you want to touch talk to me first."

Xander could see Cordy getting ready to unload at that statement and quickly thrust the crystal into Cordy's hands. As Cordelia touched the crystal a bright light flashed. Everyone could see Cordelia standing there, with a shadow of some woman digging her hands into Cordelia's head. The woman was covered in blood. Cordelia fell to the ground. Luckily the crystal was still mainly in Xander's hands. "Cordelia," Buffy called out as she reached out to grab her.

For Buffy, touching Cordelia wasn't a pleasant experience. It was like what had happened with Spike. She saw Cordelia's future as the Powers wanted it. She saw a thing ripping something out of a man Cordelia was kissing, she knew it was Cordelia's power. She saw a demon covered in blades tricking Cordelia. She saw the demon taking orders from the thing that wanted Cordelia's body. She saw Cordelia ascending and then that thing taking over her body. She saw it using Cordelia. Then she saw Cordelia lying in a bed, just like Faith had been. Finally, she saw Cordelia being buried.

To Buffy, it seemed like she had just watched the next several years of Cordelia's life in real time. But the vision only took a few seconds, ten at the most to complete. Buffy looked at Giles, "Giles we have to save Cordy!"

Buffy was going to start explaining what was going on when there was a knock at the door. Opening the door they saw Col. O'Neill, and the rest of SG-1.

Jack spoke, "I'm sorry to bother you, but the base sensors just went nuts."

Sam added, "A large energy reading was recorded and it was coming from this area. We wanted to make sure everything was alright." Stepping into the room Sam saw the Crystal Xander was holding. Looking at it she asked, "What is that?"

"I do apologize," Giles said. "That might have been us. We were discussing events with Cordelia and decided to bring our Ward stone to offer certain protections. When Cordelia touched the stone it sent out a rather large burst of light. Could that be what you are referring to?"

Jack looked at Sam, "Well?"

Sam nodded, "Light is just one spectrum of energy so it's possible that they are related. Could I see the crystal?" Sam moved closer to the crystal, "Is that a diamond? I've never seen one so big." Sam had absolutely no idea why all of the Scoobies suddenly started laughing. And they refused to explain. Although Faith whispered to her that if she really wanted to know she could ask her in private later.

Giles said after everyone stopped laughing, "Whilst it is alright if you would like to look, please don't touch. The reaction Cordelia experienced makes me rather reluctant to try and repeat the process."

It only took a few more minutes to satisfy Sam and the rest of SG-1 that everything was fine. Once they left Buffy looked at everyone and picked up where she had left off. "Giles one of the Powers is going to kill Cordelia."

Everyone was suddenly paying attention. Once Buffy explained to Cordelia that she had visions as well, Cordelia took it rather well, she was only saying "It's not fair." Over and over for a minute, before she was brought back to the seriousness of the situation.

Buffy explained everything. The man who had kissed Cordelia. Cordelia started to cry as Buffy explained how the thing ripped his abilities out of him and put them into Cordelia. She explained about the demon covered in blades, how the thing wanted to use Cordelia to become a God. It would rule everything and people would smile as it ate them. Telling how Cordelia would die was one of the hardest parts.

"How do we stop it?" Buffy asked when she had finished speaking.

"I say we find the Power and kill it," Xander said. "But that might take too long. So first thing is protecting Cordelia. We need to make sure when the demon comes for her it dies. If we can stop it then I bet that will put a crimp in the Powers plan."

"Xander," Tara said. "Xander is the key. Remember what he is and why the powers hate him. If Cordelia stays near him, then I bet that will mess up their plans."

"What are you talking about?" Cordelia asked.

The next hour was spent telling Cordelia about Shemp, Xander the Whitelighter/Elder and everything they had learned. Cordelia looked at everyone. Turning to Giles, "That cleansing thing you guys did, could you do it to me?"

"I think we may be able to," Giles said. "It would depend on several things. I am afraid we will need to research, and verify that Xander can return to Heaven. I would like to propose that after we complete these talks we concentrate on ensuring that Cordelia is safe."

Everyone readily agreed. Cordelia found herself amazed that all of them were determined to make sure she was safe. Part of her easily recognized that in Xander. But Buffy, and Willow? She was honestly surprised by that. Although the news that Willow was married to Tara had been more surprising. But not by much. Hearing about how Faith had been used by the Powers was frightening. It also made her realize how much danger she was in, Faith was a slayer, one of their champions, and they did that to her.

"OK," Cordelia said, "Dweeb here makes everything go wacky. And the Powers have been screwing with everyone, Earth is being threatened by evil snakes and even worse gods. But can any of you tell me what kind of a demented God would choose HIM, how damaged is this Shemp anyway?" As Cordelia finished her rant she was standing and pointing at Xander. There was another flash of light. It Surrounded Cordelia for just a moment. Cordelia was now wearing a Japanese school girl's uniform or something that looked like it. Her hair was in two ponytails. Cordelia's shirt read "Team Xander" and she was holding pom-poms. Cordelia felt an overwhelming urge, "Go Xander!" She shouted it out loud, as she shook her pom-poms.

Everyone was stunned. Cordelia managed to get a hold of herself. And placed the Pom-poms down on the table. Looking straight at Xander she said, "This is your fault."

"Ah Cordelia," Giles said. "If I may suggest, in the future do not attempt to anger a God."

Cordelia glared at Giles for a moment. Then something hit her, she could see. She saw everything. All the connections between them. How the Powers were manipulating them. She tried to hold onto the vision but it slipped away. The only thing she was left with was Xander. She knew he screwed them all. Any plans they had, he could destroy, and it most definitely was his fault. Cordelia started to laugh, "It really is his fault," she giggled.

"Cordelia," Joyce asked approaching the girl. "Are you alright?"

"I think we broke her," Faith said.

Cordelia laughed harder, "It's his fault," she said pointing a finger at Xander. After she calmed down she said. "For a second I could see everything, and it didn't hurt. But I saw how we were all connected. And then I saw how the Powers manipulated us. But then I saw Xander, he screws everyone. It's all his fault." Cordelia finished her statement with a large smile. "Go team Xander!"

"How were we all connected?" Willow asked.

"I don't know," Cordelia said. "I mean, I knew, I could see it, and I know I saw it, but I don't know what I saw."

Giles nodded, "You were given the knowledge of a god, but not permitted to keep it. However, you know some of what you saw but not the details. I would say that is an extraordinary gift, Cordelia."

Cordelia nodded; she thought so too. "Alright, enough, we have things to decide. What do you want for these talks?"

"I want the no taxes ever thing," Faith said. When Cordelia looked at her she explained, "From the movie Armageddon. We don't pay any taxes ever."

"I have to admit," Cordelia said. "That's a pretty good one." The group took the next hour talking about what they should ask for and what they thought they could expect to get. Cordelia and Willow both explained why they needed to keep the rights to any technology used on Earth that was based on things they learned from them.

Xander added one of his own, "I want your old stuff back," He said. Cordelia looked at him. Xander smiled, "You won't ask for it so I will. I want them to give you back everything they took from your parents; Free and clear."

Cordelia felt tears falling from her eyes, "You dork, I don't need those back."

"I, we all know you don't need them, Cordy," Xander said. "But you do deserve them. And we want you to have them back."

Cordelia looked at Xander and asked one question, "Why?"

Buffy actually answered, "Really come on, Cordy, you know why! You're family, sure most of the time you're that annoying family member, but still, we all love you." Having seen everything Cordelia would have done to try and help others, Buffy found her entire view of the girl had changed. She knew that Cordelia was filled with hidden depths. And they would be lucky to have her around them.

They were getting close to the time when the talks would begin. "We will need to confirm that Kennedy has been released," Giles said.

"I can go to Sunnydale and wait with her watcher," Xander said. "She should go to him first. After that, I can come back."

"What if she's late?" Cordelia asked. "I mean it may take her some time to get to you. So why don't we start the talks on time, as long as the Brits are there? If by the time we're done tonight she hasn't shown up it won't matter what we talked about. It would be a breach of faith."

As the time to start the talks came, Xander and Faith decided to go to Sunnydale together. They would wait to make sure that Kennedy showed up at her watcher's. All of the other Scoobies were waiting in front of the Stargate, along with General Hammond. Hammond had offered them the services of Major Davis to help answer any questions they had and act as a legal aide. Hammond watched as the group was beamed up.

Once the Asgard transported them up, Cordelia was amazed. The transport was better than Xander's. She didn't feel sick afterward. And she was in space! The room the Asgard had set up had a window of some kind. Cordelia could see the moon and the Earth. They were beautiful.

Entering the room, Cordelia met her first Alien, Thor. If she hadn't been told he was an Alien she would have assumed he was a Demon. He looked inhuman. The group from the United States consisted of five people. The primary aide to the Secretary of State, another aide to the President and three lawyers from the State Department. The British had a smaller team, only four people. Lord Reginald Thomson had been called earlier today by Her Majesty and the PM. Once they had explained the situation, they had ordered him to do everything possible to make sure Great Britain could benefit as much as possible from these talks. He had brought with him the best diplomats and lawyers they had available. Although he hoped that the Prime Minister or Her Majesty might send over someone with more experience at Negotiations soon.

Once everyone had been seated, Brian Moreland had started off, "I would just like to state for the record. The President has started the process to shut down the initiative program. Orders were issued to the base earlier today to ensure that Kennedy DeSilva would be released. I'm confident once we are back on the ground, you will be able to confirm that I have told you the truth. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our esteemed allies from Great Britain for agreeing to participate in these talks. And to thank the Asgard, for acting as moderators, it is our hope that at the end of these talks we will have a lasting treaty with the Furling Descendants."

Lord Reginald was the next to speak, "I would like to echo the hopes of our Colleagues from America, that once these talks have concluded we will have a treaty that will last throughout the ages, and prove to be a benefit to both the Furling Descendents and the people of Earth."

Giles had been chosen by the group to address the diplomats first. Everyone recognized that most of them looked too young to be taken seriously. At least at first. "My fellow beings, whilst my family has been amazed at the generosity of the Asgard, we are pleased and hopeful that we will be able to come to an agreement that will benefit all of our people. I know that many of you, are aware of the battles we fight, the dangers that continually beset us, as we have struggled to hold back the forces bent on destroying Humanity. We are pleased that the two greatest nations on Earth are here, Both the United Kingdom and the United States have long held to the principles of Freedom. We would ask that as these talks proceed you both realize that freedom is essential to what we are. Without the freedom to fight the forces that are against us this world is doomed. Without allies who freely chose to take up the standard of freedom, we can never win. The greatest power that any being has is their right to chose their own actions. We the Furling Descendants, pledge that we will fight to ensure that this right is never taken from any sentient being."

As Giles spoke, the various Diplomats found they were understanding and agreeing with him. They were committing themselves to make sure this would work.

"I would like to introduce Ms. Cordelia Chase. She will be here for the entirety of these talks. Whilst others of us will be here as we can find the time, the work we do does not take time off. Cordelia is family to us, and we know that she will look out for our best interests. Even to the detriment of her own interests." Giles smiled at Cordelia, "I believe it would be best if we begin with our requirements. To that end, I will let Ms. Chase address you."

Thor found Giles's speech interesting. He could sense a type of energy coming from Giles words. "I shall have to check the sensor logs to see if I am correct," Thor thought.

Cordelia stood as she looked at the people in front of her. "I hope you will all have patience with us," Cordelia said. "None of us are what you might call very diplomatic, most of our negotiations in the past have really been: find the bad guy and kill it. But as Giles said we want to make sure we can benefit everyone living on Earth. As such our requirements are really only thoughts. During the next few days, we hope to be able to come to a reasonable agreement that still satisfies everyone."

Looking down at her notes Cordelia said, "First, the Initiative program must be completely discontinued. And no other programs like it are to be started. If there are any that are doing the same kind of work, it has to stop."

"Second, some of you know about a group called the International Watcher's Council. For over a thousand years they have tried to direct and control the young girls called as slayers. This has to stop. While they can still aid the slayers and we hope they will, your governments must help to remove the power they have abused."

Lord Reginald cleared his throat calling to Cordelia, "How have the Watchers abused the slayers?"

Cordelia turned to Giles, "Could you explain Giles?"

"Yes, Whilst the principles of the Council state that they are there to aid the slayers," Giles began. "The reality is that they look upon these young girls as their property. When a potential slayer is found the council will arrange for her to be taken from her family, if at all possible. Then she will be trained as a slayer. Family and Friends are forbidden. These girls study demonology and weapons. If they are not called as the slayer, many times the council will turn them out, and because of their upbringing they lack essential skills to survive." The other diplomats looked shocked at this.

"If a slayer is called, the council will assign a watcher to attempt to control her every action. If the slayer refuses to comply the council will arrange thing so that the slayer is terminated, that way a new slayer, who will follow orders may be called. If a slayer reaches her eighteenth birthday, the council arranges a horrific test. They call it 'The Cruciamentum' they strip the slayer of her powers, then she must fight a vampire to the death. If she wins she is considered to have passed the test proving her worth. Most of the slayers that are subjected to this test die."

Moreland broke in, "Have any of these watchers taken the same test?"

"A watcher watches," Buffy said. "They don't fight the vampires, so not one of them have taken the test."

Cordelia continued, "I believe you can see why we want them removed from power. We will also need your help in finding the girls they have control over now. We want to make sure that they are taught more. That they can have a life, not what the watchers give them now."

"Third, any technology developed from working with us will be owned by the Furling Descendants. Both of your countries have patent laws. We'll own the patents. We also insist that any technology that can benefit the world as a whole will be released. We plan on setting up some companies that will be bringing these ideas and products to the market. We also want to make sure if you use the technology; your Governments will pay for it, just like they do now when; they build ships or planes."

Both groups sat up at that. The idea of advanced technology was inviting. But they didn't like the idea of not owning it.

"Ms. Chase," Brian Moreland said. "What about technology that is derived from our working with your people? Surely you don't think you should have all the rights to that?"

Cordelia looked at him. "Yes we do," she said. "Because the technology wouldn't have come about otherwise. However, we have some ideas about how we can share that with you. It will be one of the things we want to talk about more in depth."

"Fourth, complete immunity. None of us will ever be arrested or detained for any reason by your countries. And if we are somehow taken by another countries forces you will use all the power of your Governments to help secure our people's release. If you believe one of our people has committed a crime against your own people or country, you bring the evidence to us. We will take it from there."

Finally the fifth point," Cordelia said. "None of us will ever pay any taxes to anyone again."

Moreland started to laugh, "You got that from that movie didn't you?"

Buffy responded, "Hey it's a good idea so we took it. But Cordelia left off one thing." Cordelia was glaring at Buffy, Buffy smiled at her. "Last year Cordelia's family lost everything. Some kind of a problem with the IRS. She gets it all back. Everything that was taken from her family is given back. If you can't give the actual stuff back you pay her back. And it's her's not her families but hers."

"If we can reach an agreement what we propose to give is access," Cordelia said. "We will be working on repairing the 'Enterprise' and as we repair her, we would allow you to help us. We will also teach anyone about the subjects we are familiar with. In fact it would be best if we have someplace to set up a school for the potentials, and all of the young woman from project 'Achilles' we would be able to teach about demons and other subjects so that everyone could defend themselves."

"I would like to add," Thor broke in, "our people will be teaching the Furlings. If they chose to try and teach your people then that is their right as one of the Four. But due to the treaty, we currently have with the Goa'uld, we will not be able to assist them in their teaching efforts. The Asgard people would not communicate any direct knowledge to the humans of Earth."  
_

The various groups were still talking three hours later when Xander and Jack appeared. "Col. O'Neill, what is the problem?" Thor asked.

"Thor, we've come to ask your help. We believe that a Goa'uld has taken over a U.S. Military base in Sunnydale, California. Could you assist us in taking it back?" Jack asked.

"I am sorry, O'Neill," Thor said. "But the Treaty between yourselves, the Goa'uld and the Asgard only allow us to assist in the event of an attack on the planet. An isolated incident would not allow us to assist you."

Both of the representatives for the US and British were already talking trying to find out what was happening. Giles approached Xander, "Xander, what's going on?" Xander looking around decided to try and fill everyone in at once.

Yelling as loudly as he could, "Everybody shut the Hell up." The people trying to talk over each other stopped and looked at him. "Look, sit down. I'll tell you what we know and what we suspect, then we can talk." It took another twenty minutes for Xander to explain what they knew of the Initiative, and how Kennedy had escaped.

As Xander finished, Jack looked at him with approval. "Kid did a good job," Jack thought to himself.

Giles looked at the table. Standing he said, "The Goa'uld are a problem, but any military personnel entering that base will most likely be killed. We know that the Initiative has been capturing demons. If they release them your men wouldn't know how to fight them. You're going to need our help. Buffy and Faith can go in with a team. Also, there is a team of former British S.A.S. soldiers in Sunnydale right now. If we can convince the Watchers Council to give us written orders for them they might assist us."

The British representative, Lord Reginald Thompson, had received orders directly from Her Majesty and the PM earlier that day to do anything he needed to make sure Britain was included in this treaty. "Mr. Giles, If I can contact my Government I can ask Her Majesty to recall these men to active service. Would they accept the orders if they come from Her Majesty?"

Giles was shocked; he really hadn't seen how far things had progressed. "I believe they would. I have only met Captain Chandler a few times but he struck me as a man of honor. He would not deny the Queen's command."

"Do you have a way to get the order's to Captain Chandler and his men once I have them?" Lord Reginald asked.

"If you can get a video link showing the orders on a desk, I can go get them," Xander told Reginald.

"Very good then," Reginald said. "If you will excuse me I will need to be ah transported back to our embassy. How shall I contact you once you the order are ready?"

"I'm going to have to go with you," Xander said after a moment's thought. "That way you can call my cell phone and I'll know where to go." Turning to Jack and the others. "Once I'm done there I can orb back to the SGC, and start bringing teams to Sunnydale. Since the Asgard can't help with transportation, I will orb as many as I can."

Jack nodded. "I know everyone may be worried, however, once Xander has the orders from the British, please keep doing what you were doing. These talks in some ways are just as important." Jack turned to Thor, "Would it be possible to give us a way to call you so that we can ask to be brought up when we're done?"

"Of course, Colonel O'Neill," Thor said. "I will also give Lord Reginald a communications device so that he may call us to be brought back up." Thor paused and said, "While we may not assist you, Colonel O'Neill, our ship's sensors have detected a Goa'uld shield in what you call Sunnydale, California. It appears to be partially underground."

"Thank you, Thor," Jack politely said. Internally he was saying, "Shit, they've got shields."  
_

Returning to the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. Reginald started getting to work. He was able to start talking with both the PM and Her Majesty almost immediately. They had both left orders with their secretaries that he was to be put through to them whenever he called.

After explaining the situation, and Dr. Giles request for help in convincing the Watcher's team to assist them, her Majesty had her secretary look through the information they had on the Watcher's teams. After identifying the team and its probable members, "We will have orders drawn to the effect that Captain Chandler and his men will be returned to our service immediately," The Queen said. "We will require one hour, then young Alexander Giles may come to retrieve them."

While waiting, Reginald also explained the requirements that the Furling Descendants were putting forth. Both the PM and her Majesty did not feel that they were too strenuous, although they did insist that they should have the right to refuse entry to any part of the United Kingdom.

"Really Reggie," The Prime Minister said, "It seems like they are wanting to be treated as an autonomous foreign country. The only real problem with that is they are mixed in with other populations. Keep an eye on what happens. If nothing else maybe we should recommend that some uninhabited island be given to them and we can all call them their own country."

Reginald sat up, "That is a brilliant idea. It would also allow us quite a bit more cover as to why taxation on this group is so different from the common man. Still, I think it would be best if we see how the talks go. I think the United States will have a much harder time agreeing. For the most part, these people were born in their country. They are not going to want to relinquish that control."

"So just wait and when things seem truly bogged down in the mire," The PM said. "You can present the brilliant idea of making them their own nation. That would also allow for them to maintain embassies and diplomatic treaties between nations. We could probably fit all of their requirements in if everyone agrees to that."

"Yes," Reginald began. "But I'm not sure that any of them would want to give up their current citizenships either."

"Then the treaty can stipulate that they should be considered dual citizens of whatever their countries are but their new country would have controlling authority over them." The Prime Minister said.

Reginald nodded, "Well I believe I should be returning to the talks. Will you or her Majesty be sending anyone else to assist us?"

"Probably, Reggie," The Prime Minister responded. "We will be discussing that later today. Not that we are doubting your abilities but we would like to see about throwing some more weight into the talks."

"Thank you I'd appreciate any help you might send," Reginald said as the conversation ended.

Onboard the Sleipnir, the remaining diplomats and Scoobies were talking among themselves. Nothing could or should be done until Reginald returned. So they were talking to each other and trying to get a feel for each other.

Joyce went over to Cordelia, "Cordelia," Joyce said. "You're coming with me." Joyce pulled over Cordelia over to Thor. "Commander Thor," She said. "I'd like to ask your help."

"Joyce Summers," Thor said. "How can I assist you?"

"Cordelia is a good friend of ours," Joyce began. "She is suffering from a unique ability. She receives visions of things that may happen. These visions have also caused her a lot of pain. I'd like Eir to examine her to see if there is anything that can be done to help her."

Thor nodded, "I will summon Eir to examine Cordelia. If there is anything we are able to do then we would be happy to assist you. Do you believe she is one of your people?"

Joyce stopped, "I really hadn't considered it. Is it possible she is also a Furling?"

"As I stated when first we met," Thor said. "The Furlings were very biologically diverse. They mated with many races. But the signs of Furling ancestry were almost always seen in their gifts. The ability to see events that had not taken place was one of their gifts. So it is possible, that Cordelia Chase is also Furling."

"Would the Asgard," Joyce began, "would you be able to teach us how to identify other Furlings?"

"I believe that would be possible. I will inform the teacher who will be assisting you with your needs," Thor replied.

Once Eir had arrived, Joyce went with Cordelia to the Asgard medical facilities. "Mrs. Summers," Cordelia said. "You can't think I'm alien?"

"Honestly Cordelia," Joyce said. "I just want to make sure you're alright. If Thor hadn't brought up the possibility I never would have thought of it." Looking at the young woman who was upset at the news. "And can you honestly say it would be a bad thing if you were?" Joyce asked. "Really think about it, the only difference would be in knowing about your past. It wouldn't change who you are. Although if the talents could tell us that someone is a Furling, I think we'll have to look at anyone who uses magic. Giles always said it was an ability not everyone had. So maybe there is something genetic about it."

"But I don't use magic," Cordelia emphatically declared.

"Cordelia," Joyce said with a smile. "You're getting mystical visions and something wants to use you to become a God. I doubt you're going to be normal."

Eir proceeded to examine Cordelia. Because of the nature of the original test she spent more time examining Cordelia than normal. Eir did multiple examinations of her brain, looking for anything that could be the cause of Cordelia's pain.

After everything was done Joyce sat with Cordelia as they talked to Eir. "The results of your examinations are troubling," Eir began. "We did detect the presence of Furling genetic markers. But they are damaged. At this time, I am sorry to say, the Asgard have no knowledge of how to repair your genetic markers. We know enough of the Furlings to identify them but not to correct these issues. I would have to guess that the reason you are experiencing pain when you receive your visions is due to the damage in your genetic code."

"Is there anything you can do to help Cordelia with the pain?" Joyce asked.

"There are several things we could give you to block the pain," Eir said. "However, the pain is a result of actual neural damage. Every time you experience one of your visions it is destroying a part of your brain. We do have technology that can help prevent further damage. But we would not be able to reverse the damage that has already been caused."

"So these visions are slowly killing me?" Cordelia asked.

"Only if you fail to make use of the treatments available to you," Eir answered. "Although it is possible that Joyce Summers may also be able to assist you."

"How?" Joyce asked.

"You possess the ability to heal," Eir stated. "When you healed Commander Thor, you not only healed the damage he was currently suffering from, but our tests have shown you were also able to heal some of the genetic damage that his current clone is suffering from. If the sample we have taken proves viable you will have given him another ten clone generations, before the damage is back to where it was previously."

Joyce was amazed at Eir's statement, "I had no idea," she said.

"But you think Mrs. Summers can fix me?" Cordelia asked.

"Our knowledge of the intricacies of Furling abilities is not sufficient to know if it would or would not correct the previous damage," Eir answered.

"Cordelia," Joyce said. "Let's see what we can do, we'll work with the Asgard and Giles and the others. As soon as we are done with these talks we were planning on looking at your problem anyway so this will just be part of what we have to do."

The talks were ended for the moment, once the full scope of the situation in Sunnydale was understood. None of the Scoobies could really concentrate when Xander, Buffy, Faith, and Joyce were all in danger.

Everyone was relieved that none of their people had died. Willow felt guilty that she felt that way. But it was the truth. Losing Xander, Buffy, Mrs. Summers or even in a small way Faith would have been devastating. As it was when they heard how many people had died to retake the Initiative base if helped add to their resolve; both the British and the American would agree to prevent things like this in the future.

The Scoobies did manage to get the Asgard to transport them to Sunnydale. Xander and Faith had both been recovering from the battle. And Xander was trying to cut down on his orbing for a few days. Because of that, they were present for the memorials that were held for the fallen.

Having lost individuals in the fight before, it was still a new experience. Over twenty men had died during the assault. And they were still trying to figure out how many of the Initiative people Hathor had killed.

The funerals for those who died at graduation had been somewhat similar, but this service had a different feel to it. Due to the presence of the Free Jaffa, all of the bodies of the fallen were cremated. The funeral pyres lined one side of the base. It was unfortunate that none of those who had been members of the Initiative were among them. But Jack, after listening to Giles and others, had decided they needed any information those bodies could provide in case something like this happened again. For the most part, it was more about honoring the fallen then mourning the lives cut short. These men and women had died trying to do the right thing, not as helpless victims.

Master Bra'Tac had left the following day. He promised to return soon. But the Free Jaffa would need to know of the great battle they had fought. The remaining Jaffa had all asked to stay and assist the Furlings and the Tau'ri. Several of them had sought out Faith and Buffy in order to spar with them. Master Bra'Tac, after watching the girls fight had ordered Teal'c, "You will take over the training of the Hoktar. They have great potential, but they are lacking in discipline. Help train them to become the best of us." Those were his final words before returning home.

Once Master Bra'tac had returned to Chulak he called a gathering of the Free Jaffa. "My people," Bra'tac began, "I bring news of momentous events that have transpired among the Tau'ri. Three days ago Teal'c my apprentice came to us, he sought our aid in battling a False God who had infiltrated a city on the Tau'ri's home world. He also brought tales of the Orak Ha'taaka, he told of his fighting them in the place called Sunnydale. Teal'c spoke of meeting various kinds of Orak Ha'taaka and the warriors who dedicated their lives to fighting them."

All the Jaffa were listening to a master storyteller as he weaved his tale. "I took thirty of our most valiant Jaffa and accompanied Teal'c to the Tau'ri. Once we had arrived I was amazed. Teal'c presented me to Alexander of Furling!" A murmur arose from the crowd. Bra'tac nodded, "Yes Alexander of Furling, I too doubted Teal'c's claim. All know that Ra and the Goa'uld had exterminated the Furling race. But Thor of the Asgard had declared that it was so." Another startled sound came from the crowd. "Alexander of Furling along with his promised mate, Faith Daughter of O'Neill, Buffy Daughter of Summers, her sister and Joyce their Mother, all of them of the Furling people, joined us in battling the Goa'uld and the forces of the Orak Ha'taaka."

"Alexander of Furling had powers that the False Gods would envy. He alone transported over one hundred men to the battle. And when we engaged the enemy he used his powers to remove any obstacle. The tunnel to enter the Goa'uld's lair was blocked, He reached out and blue lights surrounded the block. It was removed as if a ring transporter had cleared it away but on a greater scale. Then when we began fighting the Tau'ri whom Hathor had subverted with Nish'ta he removed all of their weapons that we might not have to destroy them."

We had cleared away the Tau'ri who had fallen to Nish'ta. We entered a great room. Vast enough to allow five hundred Jaffa to enter without crowding. Then the Abomination Adam appeared. Hathor had taken fallen warriors of the Tau'ri and melded them with Orak Ha'taaka. Adam named himself as First Prime of Hathor. He called upon us to bow down and submit to the false God Hathor. O'Neill called out to Teal'c 'Let them know our answer.' Teal called for all Tau'ri and Jaffa to fight the false god's servants. Twenty of the creature were in front of us. We began firing our staffs at the creatures. The creatures received multiple strikes from the staffs. Yet even without any armor they did not fall. The Abomination was shielded as if he held a Kara Kesh, not one shot could strike him. He watched as his forces advanced. O'Neill called on our forces to strike their legs. Five of twenty fell to the ground."

Then the creatures of Hathor were among us. They each had the strength of five Jaffa, their hands ended in claws. To battle one alone was death. But then the daughter of O'Neill and her Sister the daughter of Summer began to fight. Armed with sword and ax they each took down a creature. They fought in such a way as to surpass the legends of the Hoktar. For surely those legends were based on them. But they did not conceive of what the Hoktar are. Alone one of them could defeat any ten Jaffa warriors. Together they attacked the creature. A younger sister to them attempting to gain honor attacked the leader. She forgot that honor comes from fighting with your sisters. As Faith and Buffy sought to kill the creatures she went alone to face the First Prime of Hathor. But she was a new warrior unprepared to face a first prime. Adam played with her. He broke her body before her sisters could arrive. They knew their duty, and would not abandon their brothers to the creatures of Hathor."

Everyone in the crowd was listening to Bra'tac's every word. "Once the creatures were destroyed the two sisters moved as one, they came at the First prime one from the left and the other from the right. They forced the Abomination to drop their sister. Swinging their weapons at him, the Abomination caught the blades with its hands. It commanded them to bow down before the false god. Faith Daughter of O'Neill cried out her defiance of the false God. The creature pierced her side with a hidden weapon. Faith as payment for the blow; took the Abomination's hand.

"Then the Abomination produced a weapon of the Tau'ri that had been melded into its body. One of their guns. It declared they would fall. That though they be Hoktar they would not stand before it, and its Goddess Hathor.

"Alexander of Furling had been moving the wounded to safety. Because of his work and the healing of Joyce the Mother, not one man died that day who was wounded. Only a death blow resulted in death. Seeing his mate threatened by the Abomination, Alexander cried out at the dishonor of the creature. He reached out with his power and removed the arm that held the Tau'ri weapon. Then the Abomination, sensing its end was near, declared that its god Hathor would never be defeated. Matching their blows Faith Daughter of O'Neill took its head, while her sister Buffy Daughter of Summer stabbed its heart. The creature fell to the ground dead."

Everyone in the crowd cheered. "Ah but that was not the end my friends, This abomination was created by a False God, A naquadah bomb was in the place where its heart should have been. The body of the beast began to glow and pulse in time to the bomb. The O'Neill called to Alexander of Furling, 'Remove this abomination' and Alexander as a dutiful son complied. He removed the body of the beast to the cold depths of space where the destruction it caused harmed none."

Once again the crowd cheered. "Now my people at this moment the Furling people talk with the Asgard and the Tau'ri to become allies. What say you my people? Will we become allies to the Furlings?" Bra'tac could tell the crowd was in favor of an alliance. ""Tomorrow when the sun sets we shall meet and decide. Till then ponder the wondrous news that you have heard."  
_

After three days Senator Kinsey was getting upset. None of his normal sources could tell him what was going on. The Governor of California had declared a Federal Disaster for Sunnydale, California. Teams from the FBI, the Jeffersonian, and the local NCIS groups had been sent to Sunnydale.

The only thing Kinsey knew for sure was that the N.I.D. base in Sunnydale had been destroyed. Anyone with a greater understanding of the problem had already been picked up by either the military police or the FBI. Colonel Maybourne was missing, Kinsey didn't know if Maybourne had been picked up or just gone to ground.

What was even more upsetting was the fact that Kinsey was hearing rumors of a top-secret negotiation that was currently ongoing. And one of the rumors had stated that Kinsey was being purposefully locked out of the meetings. He was able to confirm that something had the Brits panties in a bunch. And that the British Prime minister and Ambassador had been calling officials in DC frequently.

Kinsey knew information is power, and someone was trying to take his power away.  
_

After three days, Baldur had arrived with the Asgard ship Bautarsteinn, Loki was onboard, along with Bragi, who had come to help ensure the teaching of the Furlings. Eir requested to remain and work with Joyce and Loki to see what could be done to assist the Asgard with their cloning problem.

For all of the Scoobies, meeting Loki was interesting. The fact that Shemp recommended it, made all of them worried. They had already shared what they knew with Thor and the other Asgard who would be helping them.

After hearing the entire tale of the Scoobies, Thor said, "I can think of no reason this Shemp would seek to harm any of us. As the situation stood, merely by taking no actions the Asgard would most likely be doomed to extinction within the next ten earth years." Thor paused, "From what you have explained of his actions towards your own people, he has also acted in a beneficial manner."

"I must admit," Giles said. "Due to the circumstances we often find ourselves in, we may have become paranoid. Never have we encountered so many people trying to help us."

"Ah," Thor said. "I understand, Rupert Giles. When constantly surrounded by enemies, unknown allies, coming when they are unexpected, are a sufficient reason to proceed with caution."

Loki said, "I know my fellow Asgard have often looked at my efforts to save our race as unacceptable. However, even from the preliminary tests that we have run, it appears that you and your people will at least allow us to postpone our inevitable demise. For that alone, I am in your debt."

Faith asked Loki, "I don't get it. If you knew everyone would hate you for what you're doing, why do it?"

Loki looked at her. "As you will learn, we Asgard have lost the ability to reproduce. Our methods now involve cloning. And we have been fighting the degenerative effects of the clones for many thousands of your years. My son Fenrir was one of the first to succumb to the problems of unstable clones. I wish to save my race and my child. I placed him in suspended animation over three thousand years ago. The damage to his mind was extensive. I hoped that by finding a cure to our cloning problem I could also restore my son."

Hearing Loki's reason actually made it easier for the Scoobies to trust him. They all knew what they would do for family.

Thor said, "Loki will be supervised by Eir. She will help to ensure that nothing is done that would violate our ethics or your freedoms. Bragi will be in charge of teaching you what we knew of the Furlings, their technologies and our own. In the event that the Bautarsteinn is called away, he will remain on board the Enterprise with Loki and Eir."

"I think we need to make sure we get it livable quickly then," Tara said. "Right now it's nothing but bare walls."

Bragi nodded, "One of the issue I will address is first bringing your basic understanding of what humans call science to a high enough level. From there we will choose the subjects you would like to focus on. We will take a specific system of the Enterprise and you will learn how to rebuild it and why we have done it that way." Looking at all of the Scoobies, "I will expect all of you to learn. The Furlings have been gone too long for us to miss this opportunity. If we can help you to recover your race's place, then even if the Asgard fall you will be here to help the other races."

Bragi's declaration of his expectation that they would all learn from him was a surprise to everyone. Most of the younger Scoobies had assumed that they would learn some things. But Joyce and Giles hadn't really thought about being students themselves. Cordelia was surprised that she was being included in the group.

"But what about my work with Angel?" Cordelia asked, "The visions may suck but we do a lot of good."

"Cordy," Xander said. "None of us will be able to be just students. We can't leave the Hellmouth unprotected, and the bad guys aren't going to stop coming just to allow us time to study."

"Yeah," Willow said. "But maybe we can take the time we would have used to go to college and work and change that around to where we are learning from Bragi." Willow was excited. She was going to be learning things that no one on Earth had ever even dreamed of. OK maybe they had dreamed of them, but no one had ever been able to make those dreams reality. "Oh, do you think we'll be able to get like Doctorates once we're done? I mean how would we be able to prove anything? Everyone's going to think we're dropouts."

"Willow," Tara said, grabbing her wife. "It'll be alright. I'm sure once we have some time we can figure something out." Willow nodded and hugged Tara.

Among the Free Jaffa of Chulak, there were some who had been in contact with the Tok'ra. They would pass information to the Tok'ra and receive information as well. It was considered a mutually beneficial partnership. The news that Master Bra'tac brought of the return of the Furlings was cause for amazement among the Jaffa. Hearing that the Tau'ri and the Asgard were talking with the Furlings to become allies, it was decided to inform the Tok'ra of what was happening on Earth.

The Free Jaffa had decided to approach the Furlings so that they might also join in the great alliance that was forming.

When the news reached the Tok'ra high council, Garshaw, the leader of the council, called an immediate meeting. After several hours of deliberation, it was decided that the claims that the Furlings had returned must be investigated. Selmak and Jacob, along with Martouf and Lantesh, would be sent to the Tau'ri to confirm the rumors.  
_

"Incoming Wormhole" was announced at the SGC. The iris was closed to prevent enemies from coming through. In the command room, the airman announced, "It's the Free Jaffa, opening the iris."

Exiting the Stargate Master Bra'tac came through accompanied by three others: another Jaffa male and two female Jaffa. General Hammond greeted him, "Master Bra'tac, we weren't expecting you to return so soon. How can we help you?"

"Hammond of Texas," Bra'tac said. "On my return to Chulak, I told the tale of the great battle of Sunnydale. After the tale was told, we, the Free Jaffa, have come to join the alliance with the Furlings. I bring with me Master Dra'nout, She'sa, and Tre'ma. Both were former high priestess of the false gods. Now they watch over the primta we have captured."

"A pleasure to meet you all," General Hammond said.

"We would ask to be brought to Alexander of Furling," Bra'tac said.

As General Hammond was about to answer the alarms sounded again, "Incoming Wormhole, closing the iris." moments later the speaker said, "General Hammond, it's the Tok'ra."

"Open the Iris," Hammond commanded.

When the iris was opened two men came through the stargate. George seeing the first man smiled, "Jacob and Selmak, Martouf and Lantesh, welcome back to the SGC, what can I do for you?"

"George," Jacob said. "We heard a rumor and came to find out if it's true."

b"Yes it has been said that the Furlings have returned,"/b Lantesh said. b"Is this true? Have the Tau'ri contacted the Furlings?"/b

Hammond sighed, it was going to be a long day. "Master Bra'tac and his party have come for the same reason. They wish to be party to the talks involving the Furling Descendants. If you'll follow me, I will see about contacting the Asgard. Currently, they are acting as moderators between our people and the Furlings." George wondered how this was going to affect the ongoing talks.

Several minutes later, General Hammond was talking with the Asgard, "Commander Baldur," he said. "We have recently received additional parties who would like to join the treaty talks with the Furling Descendants."

"General Hammond," Baldur greeted him. "Who are these parties?"

"The Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra," General Hammond replied.

"I will inform the Furlings and see if they agree to their participation," Baldur said. "I will contact you once they have made a decision."

"Thank you," Hammond said. As the Asgard closed the communication, George turned to his new guests. "I hope both of your peoples realize that we have no control over the Furling Descendants. And while I believe they will choose to include you in the talks, the people of Earth are not able to force them to do anything."

"Of course, Hammond of Texas," Master Bra'tac replied. "Having met them previously I am confident they will allow us a place at their side."

"So it's true," Jacob said. He bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment; when he raised his eyes, Selmak said, b"Long has it been thought that Ra destroyed the Furlings. The Tok'ra owe them a debt. It was the Furlings that helped show our Mother Egeria the path of blending."/b

"That is surprising to hear," Hammond responded. "But we know so little of the Tok'ra, I hope this opens up the opportunity for a greater cooperation between all our peoples."

Baldur came back, calling to General Hammond, "The Furlings have agreed to allow the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra to join the treaty talks. If they are present with you now we will transport them."

"Thank you, Baldur," Hammond said. "They are in the room with me." The Asgard transportation beam flashed and General Hammond was alone in the room. "This is going to be one hell of a day," he said as he walked back to his office, to call the President. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 8 _

On the Bautarsteinn the two new delegations arrived. They could see they were in a large room that had been prepared for a conference. One of the Asgard sat at a table as did a large group of humans.

"Welcome, representatives of the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra," Baldur said. "I am Baldur of the Asgard. I am moderating these talks."

"Thank you Baldur of the Asgard," Master Bra'tac said. "Greeting to my friends the Furlings. As I promised when last we parted, I have returned. Upon telling of our glorious battle, I asked the Free Jaffa if they would choose to join the Furlings in an alliance. The Free Jaffa have spoken, as with one voice, they cried out to befriend the Furlings."

The Scoobies looked at one another; Giles realized very quickly they were all looking at him. "Master Bra'tac, we are pleased to welcome your people to these talks. My son and both Slayers have told me of your people's great skill in battle. We look forward to creating closer ties with your people." Turning to the Tok'ra, Giles said. "I am Rupert Giles of the Furling Descendants. I am unfamiliar with your people; may I have your names?"

Jacob began, "The Tok'ra are really two people, I am Jacob Carter, I was born on Earth. But at the same time, I am the host to Selmak of the Tok'ra."

"Host," Giles asked. "In the same way that the Goa'uld take hosts?"

Jacob bowed his head. When he raised it, his eyes were shining white, b"While genetically we are the same species as the Goa'uld, the Tok'ra do not believe in taking unwilling hosts. We prefer to live in partnership with our hosts, sharing our lives and knowledge with them. We stand against all Goa'uld who would take rather than share. With me is Martouf, host of Lantesh."/b Selmak said pointing to the other man.

"Holy Shit," Cordelia said.

The rest of the delegates who had not previously been informed of the Tok'ra were equally surprised.

"So if I understand correctly," Giles said. "The Goa'uld have no need to act as they do. They chose to forcibly take hosts rather than 'blend' with them?"

"That is correct," Martouf replied.

"Why? What made your people chose a different path?" Giles asked.

b"Long ago when Ra controlled the homeworld of the Tau'ri our mother Egeria was a queen of the Goa'uld. She had an encounter with a Furling that forever altered her. Afterward, she came to see the evil that the Goa'uld chose. She ensured that all of her offspring would know of this and thus were born the Tok'ra."/b Selmak paused.b "When we heard that the Furlings live, the Tok'ra high council decided to send us as representatives in the hopes that we may in some way repay the Debt of Egeria."/b

"I see," Giles said. "Very well, we would welcome the Tok'ra to these talks. If you would care to be seated we will make room."

Brian Moreland from the US delegation called out, "Dr. Giles, I believe it might be beneficial if you and your people were to spend the rest of the afternoon with the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra. They will need to understand what we are talking about and to be honest I believe both myself and my British counterpart would benefit from a recess at this time."

Lord Reginald quickly agreed. "In fact, it may be that in order to maintain balance we might need to go forward as the representatives of the Tau'ri rather than just our own nations."

Both the British and US delegation left, leaving the Scoobies, Baldur and their new guests. The Scoobies asked for a few moments so that they could gather their thoughts. After all, Giles explained, the inclusion of both the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra would have significant impact on their talks.  
_

Once the Scoobies were alone, Xander asked, "Is anybody else freaked out?" As everyone else agreed he said, "I mean this is turning into like an interstellar conference. And I have no idea on why the Jaffa and Tok'ra, and man are those guys freaky, but seriously no idea what they want or what we could do for them."

Joyce looked around, "How about if we ask them what they would like to do? I think from what Selmak said that the Tok'ra are looking to pay us back for something a Furling once did. The Jaffa, I have no idea why they are here."

"I think I know," Buffy said. "All the Jaffa that are still in Sunnydale are like crazy to fight. They really love training and challenging themselves. I think they want to be in on our fights. And they hate the Goulds. I mean really hate them. So they may think we can help them too since the Goulds have a hate on for us."

"So they are looking at the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Giles said, "That is one possibility."

"So we're just going to ask them what they want?" Cordelia asked. Once everyone had agreed, the Scoobies returned to the conference room.

Giles spoke first, "Thank you for giving us a moment to collect our thoughts. I am sorry to say that even using that time we quickly came to the conclusion that we honestly do not have any idea of how we can start. So we would ask that you explain to us, what you were hoping to achieve by meeting with us." Giles looked at the two groups, waiting for someone to respond first.

Jacob Carter stood, "I think I can answer you best. Selmak and I both feel that it would be easiest for me to relate to you because as far as I can tell you all sound like you're from Earth." Jacob went on, "The Tok'ra's first goal was to confirm that a species they had thought was extinguished by the Goa'uld had actually survived. When we met you, I pointed out to Selmak that General Hammond referred to you as the 'Furling Descendants' which makes me believe you've only recently found out about your heritage."

Giles said, "That is true; until recently we thought we were just gifted human beings. It was the Asgard who explained the truth to us."

"I thought it might be something like that," Jacob said. "As a result, I take it that your people will be needing teachers. Selmak has decided to send word to the Tok'ra high council. We will be staying to help teach you. Without the Furlings teaching Egeria there would be no Tok'ra. So it is strangely poetic that the Tok'ra can now help to teach the Furling Descendants."

"The Asgard will also be providing instructions," Baldur said. "As the Children of one of the Four, they are entitled to their heritage."

"In fact," Cordelia began, "that was one of the points we have been negotiating about. We have agreed to help advance the Tau'ri," and boy did she feel silly using that word, "but we wanted to make sure that we retained the rights to any technologies we helped to create here on Earth. That's one of the reasons we had both Britain and the US here. We thought with more people involved it would be better for everyone."

"I'd say that was pretty smart," Jacob smiled at Cordelia.

"And you, Master Bra'tac?" Giles asked. "What do you hope to achieve for the Free Jaffa?"

"Giles of Furling," Bra'tac began. "We are opposed to the False Gods in all their works. When I learned of the survival of your race, I was amazed. That alone is a blow to the False Gods. But then I fought in battle side by side with Alexander of Furling, Faith the Daughter of O'Neill and Buffy the Daughter of Summers. I saw the care that Joyce the Mother gave to all who were wounded. I myself was healed of a minor wound, and since then I have found I feel as if I were a boy of a mere fifty years of age."

"How old are you?" Faith asked.

"I am one hundred and thirty-five years old," Bra'tac said.

"Damn you look good for your age," Faith responded.

Bra'tac smiled, "Thank you, Faith Daughter of O'Neill. But as I said, when we saw what your people were capable of we, the Free Jaffa, knew that the False Gods will attempt to destroy your people. The powers you possess are so much more than the tricks that the False Gods employ. Therefore we would stand with you when you confront them, as must one day come to pass. And if for any reason you find that you are in need of a new home we would offer you a place among the Free Jaffa."

"Wow," Willow said. "I think this changes things. Because, Wow."

Tara nodded, "Dad, what do you think the others will do when they hear this?"

Giles needed to pick up a new habit; he really missed his glasses. "Honestly, Tara, I do not have the faintest idea on how this will change things. But I think it might be a good idea to show both the Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra what we have been talking about and see where we should go from there."

The rest of the night, the Scoobies went over their demands and desires that they had submitted to the Governments. Jacob was appalled to learn of project Achilles and applauded their desire to make sure the children from the project were cared for. When they explained the Slayer and how it could only be a young girl they also explained the Watchers' Council and how they treated potentials and slayers.

Hearing this Bra'tac exclaimed, "Honorless Gonach! They act as the Goa'uld; having no care for those that are in their power. We must end this. I believe it would be just if each of these Watchers was forced to pass such a test as the Cruciamentum. I would be pleased to aid you in administering the test for them. Perhaps they should be forced to face one of my Jaffa in a battle to the death to prove their worth."

Joyce looked at Bra'tac, "As the Mother of two slayers I thank you." Master Bra'tac bowed to Joyce, then sat back down.

The third point on owning the technology, caused an interesting discussion. The Tok'ra had no concept of patents or of leasing rights to ideas. Cordelia was the one to say, "We are in a War. Money is power. It allows us to buy food, weapons, and some security. By owning the rights we can also improve the lives of others while we are fighting. I don't know what you Tok'ra have done, but having money gives you more options."

Lantesh responded, b"You raise an interesting point. Perhaps we may study this idea. I have noted how the Tau'ri are better at waging war than ourselves and the Goa'uld. This may be an area where they are more advanced than ourselves."/b

The fourth point was important, but Jacob could see how it could be abused. "What type of oversight are you looking at for this?"

"To be honest," Cordelia said, "when we were looking at just Earth it would be only ourselves. We thought it could be used like what diplomats have. If some country doesn't want them there they just tell the other country. Why, did you have something in mind?"

"Possibly," Jacob said. "I'd like to talk it over with Selmak and we may have an idea that could improve it. Not changing the essence, but by bringing in a third party you wouldn't be alone in telling someone to take a hike."

"Although could the third party side with whoever was complaining?" Tara asked.

"Yeah but if you do it right it would be like the Senate resolutions, all bark, and no bite," Jacob said. "That's why we want to think about it." Jacob laughed when they explained not wanting to pay taxes, "I never liked paying them either," he said.

Cordelia was going to skip the Scoobies requirements for her, but Buffy wouldn't let her. Seeing her discomfort, Tre'ma, one of the female Jaffa, said, "You are still young. You must learn that while a warrior must train themselves to fight alone, they succeed together. You should feel no shame that your fellow warriors love you, it should fill you with pride to be loved by such noble people."

They also talked about how they planned to set up a school that would teach not only the girls they rescued but also any of the Tau'ri that could attend. "We really hope that it will allow everyone to benefit from the new knowledge," Willow said. "The Asgard said anything we want to teach is fine, they just won't teach it to the Tau'ri."

Jacob finally had to ask, "Why do you keep calling humans Tau'ri? All of you are from Earth."

Xander laughed, "Because we got stuck as Furlings, which I know you guys won't understand this but it makes us sound like Ewoks. So we thought it was only fair to use the funky name that the Jaffa gave humans."

"You speak of the great epic tale of the Republic?" Bra'tac asked.

The Scoobies were stunned, "How do you know about Star Wars?" asked Willow.

"Teal'c told us the tale, of the valiant forces of the rebellion, who sought to overthrow the evil empire." Bra'tac continued, "It is a well-loved tale among the Free Jaffa."

"Wow," Xander said. "That is so cool, but has Teal'c told you about Star Trek?"

"I am afraid he has not, Alexander of Furling," Master Bra'tac admitted. "Is it a similar tale?"

"Hold on, Dweeb," Cordelia commanded. "We are not getting into your nerdgasm right now. If you want to explain Star Trek to the aliens you can do it when we're not here."

"Heathen," Xander said. "Master Bra'tac, when we have time I would love to explain Star Trek to you. It too has many lessons to teach those who have the wisdom to learn." Xander was staring at Cordelia as he finished speaking.

"I shall look forward to the opportunity to learn from you, Alexander of Furling," Master Bra'tac promised.  
_

Brian Moreland, Lord Reginald Thompson and their staff members by mutual consent were beamed down to a room that had been set aside in the White House. Once the Secret Service verified who they were, the two diplomats were escorted to the President. Their staffs both were dismissed for the night.

Once they were sitting with the President, Lord Reginald asked that he contact the Prime Minister and Her Majesty... What they needed to go over was too important to leave anyone out. President Hayes agreed to make the calls, his face schooled in a serious expression. He knew how much he had hated being woken up at four am by the queen, and right now it was almost two in the morning in England.

It took almost twenty minutes to get everyone on the call. Once they were all assembled, Moreland spoke first. "Mr. President, Your Majesty, Mr. Prime Minister, we asked to end the talks early today because of a new development. The Free Jaffa and the Tok'ra came through the Gate earlier today. They asked to be included in the treaty talks."

President Hayes wasn't surprised, Hammond had called him earlier. Both Her Majesty and the Prime Minister were astonished. "How will this affect our talks?" The Prime Minister asked.

"We honestly don't know but it does change them from ones involving just our planet to one that involves multiple alien species that we are currently allied with." Moreland continued," The fact that the Tok'ra have stated that they see aiding the Furling Descendants, as the repayment of a debt their entire races owes them. Who knows what they may offer them? At the least, I would expect sanctuary off world if they can't come to an agreement with us."

"What do you both feel has been the greatest sticking points?" President Hayes asked.

"The ownership of new technologies and what basically amounts to their diplomatic immunity," Reginald responded. "They insist that any new technology developed will ultimately belong to them. They have stated that the person and the Government that sponsors them would be entitled to a part of the patent. Currently, they have stated that the individual or team would own twenty percent of the patent rights and the sponsoring country another ten percent. With their own people retaining seventy percent of the rights and proceeds."

"Pardon me," Queen Elizabeth said. "However, I believe at this time we are now looking at the golden goose. We can either accept their terms and have thirty percent of the proceeds enriching our nations, or reject it and receive nothing."

"I believe you have struck the heart of the matter, Your Majesty," The Prime Minister said. "I would recommend that we realize the only way we will gain the possible benefits of this is if we accede to their requirements."

"I agree," President Hayes said. "Now what do we do about their immunity?"

"Sir, I believe the Prime Minister had a valuable idea the other day; when we were talking about everything," Lord Reginald said. "He suggested that I look into any uninhabited Islands we could give it to the Furling Descendants. If that island was their official home then they would be able to claim Diplomatic Immunity through the treaty."

"That could work," Hayes said.

"We are not in favor of driving them away, they are Our citizens," Queen Elizabeth said. "We would prefer that they are also permitted to maintain their rights as citizens of our countries. If they at a future time wished to give those rights up, that should be their decision."

"I think I can agree to that," President Hayes said. "As long as they declare their earnings through their other citizenship we can write in their tax exemption."

"Sir," Moreland said. "They had actually agreed that any company which they establish in our countries would pay a flat ten percent of their earnings, that is the gross earnings, as their tax rate. From talking to Ms. Chase she has indicated they were worried about driving some existing companies out of business; so they would be looking to form partnerships with those companies, in order to make sure that they did not have a negative impact on any of our economies."

"I think we can all agree to that. So has anyone looked into islands we can give them?" Hayes asked. "Although we may need to see about giving them some loans to start with; if the infrastructure isn't already in place."

"I've had my staff looking into it," Lord Reginald said. "Currently, we have it narrowed down to three Islands we believe would work best. All of them are over ten thousand acres, and could support a city the size of Monte Carlo without any problems. In fact, the land mass of all three exceeds that of Monte Carlo. The smallest Island is sixteen square miles. The largest is twenty-eight square miles."

"Show then the options," Moreland said. "Then they can choose. That way it also doesn't look like we're trying to force a choice on them. I would recommend we put in place a treaty with them to build a joint military base there. Once they have that school of theirs up and running it would be the perfect place to assign our people who needed to go there too."

"This plan has another possible benefit," President Hayes said. "My sources have told me that the Jaffa who helped us with the Goa'uld have expressed a desire to stay longer. If they end up having a permanent Jaffa presents then we could have all Jaffa registered as their citizens. It would avoid any questions about the Jaffa's strange customs."

Both Reginald and Brian nodded. They had their orders. Leaving together they called their staffs to make sure everyone would meet early in the morning. They had some final details to plan, but it looked like they would have something to present that would be accepted by the Furlings.  
_

The next morning was very relaxing for the Scoobies. They had been called by the British and US representatives and had been asked if they could all meet at two pm mountain time. Since they didn't have any reason to object they readily agreed. Xander took all of their new friends to Sunnydale. Master Bra'tac had expressed his desire to meet with the Jaffa still in Sunnydale. Jack was still in overall command of the base, so SG-1 had been there since the battle for the Initiative. Jacob was happy to spend time with his daughter.

Xander had declared it was time to engage in some serious research. When everyone looked at him he said, "Remember what Dad said about Shemp?" Every detail could be important, and since Dad has never seen Robin Hood; Men in Tights. I think we should all research it." Giles wanted to protest, but he honestly couldn't think of a valid excuse, and it was, unfortunately, true. There might be something in the movie that was important.

Joyce had declined to go; she had finally arranged to have an expert look at the painting they had found. She managed to convince Buffy, Cordelia, and a reluctant Faith to go with her to LA. She promised that after her meeting at the Museum, they would go shopping. Faith really didn't care about the shopping but she thought it would be nice to spend time with her Mom.

Jack arranged for SG-10 to discreetly follow them. Not that he didn't trust them, or their proven abilities. But he didn't want anything to happen to his daughter. He had found that talking with her, learning who she was had opened something inside of him. He wished he could have prevented all the abuse she had suffered. But nothing could really change that without changing her.

Jack and Joyce had also had some very long conversations. Learning that Faith had been raped when she was ten years old caused Jack to fly off the handle. Once he regained control, he first made a promise that the man responsible would pay. Then he and Joyce talked about what they needed to do to help Faith. They both agreed that she would need counseling. Not only for that but for the accidental death of Finch; and the aftereffects of being under the control of the Mayor.

Xander had invited Jack, Daniel and Teal'c to join them in watching the movie. Jack decided to use his temporary vast powers and set it up in one of the base's large bays. They got a projector and soon had the picture playing on the wall as large as any movie theater. Teal'c had requested that Xander played Star Wars as well. Xander had no problem with that. Several soldiers and Jaffa came in and stayed to watch the movies. The base was crawling with people who had been sent in to help figure out what had happened.

During one of the breaks, Xander heard a man arguing the merits of Mel Brooks. He was passionate in his defense of Mel as one of the greats. The guy he was talking to was younger and looked like he really didn't care to be there. "Look Probie, Robin Hood; Men in Tights was a fantastic adaption of the original story. True it's not as good as History of the World Part One, but even a genius like Mel can't reach the heights of greatness every time."

"Look, Tony, I really don't care," Tim said. "I just think we could have done something more with the afternoon Gibbs gave us off than spending it watching movies."

"Oh Like what Elf Lord?" Tony asked. "In case you haven't noticed, there isn't a whole lot to do in this town."

"Oh I don't know," Xander broke in. "You could always tour one of our many cemeteries. As long as it's daylight you should be alright. And then there's Sunnydale Main Street. Why that alone could take up a whole three or four minutes to see."

Tony laughed, turning to the newcomer he said, "Good one kid, Anthony DiNozzo, call me Tony. I'm here with the NCIS group. This is Tim McGee, he's our probie."

Xander shook Tony's hand. "Alexander Giles, call me Xander. Native of Sunnydale, born and raised here. I'm with the Scoobies."

Tim, on hearing Xander introduce himself was shocked, the kid looked sort of familiar and he realized it was from watching the video they had recovered from the Initiative. This was the Alien. And Tony had not gotten a clue. Tim smiled, "Hi Timothy McGee, I'm a big fan of your work."

"What are you talking about, Probie?" Tony asked. "How can you be a big fan of his work? What do you do, Xander?"

Xander wasn't sure how to react, watching the interactions of Tony, and Tim, he saw Tim smirking. Figuring that Tim was pulling something he said, "Oh a little of this a little of that. But I think Tim might have a good answer for you. Hey, I'd love to talk later. Maybe we could hit the mess hall for lunch. Would that work for you, Say twenty minutes from now?"

"Sure Xander," Tony said. "Maybe you can tell us a bit more about Sunnydale."

"Cool," Xander said. "Well, I've got to go, see you soon." Xander orbed to the other side of the room to where Teal'c, Jack, and Giles were all standing. Tara and Willow had been there for Robin Hood but left to spend the rest of the morning together.

As Xander orbed in he was already starting to laugh. "What's so funny, kid?" Jack asked.

"Those NCIS guys. I think the younger one knew who I was. But the other guy didn't have a clue." He pointed out DiNozzo and McGee.

Seeing Xander orb, Tony dropped his cup of coffee. Tim smiled at Tony, "I'm a fan of that work," he said.

"That's the guy," Tony said. "The one from the videos. Holy Crap! Even after seeing the evidence I still wanted to believe it was special effects, but Holy Crap."

"Oh come on Tony, You know as well as me if it had been faked either Abby or the team from the Jeffersonian would have figured it out already. No way was any of that fake. And that means we were just talking with a one hundred percent Genuine Alien."

"Not just talking to him," Tony said. "But he's going to join us for lunch."

"We have to get Abby," Tim said. "If she hears we had lunch with one of the aliens and didn't invite her we're dead."

"Call her," Tony ordered.

"I'm calling her," Tim replied.

Over where Xander was standing everyone could see the reactions of the NCIS agents. Jack laughed, 'Looks like you got them good."

"Yeah I think that was more just playing off of Tim," Xander admitted. "Hey want to join us for lunch?"

Giles declined, "After watching such a riveting reproduction of a classic English tale, I feel I really must go and refresh myself. It has positively made me yearn for England. I foresee the need for a good Lager and something to eat. Whilst I read, however, please enjoy the rest of your afternoon. Xander, I shall see you when we are ready to reconvene with the Asgard."

Jack said, 'Sure, I just need to take care of a few things. What time are you eating?" Once Xander told him the time Jack said he would meet them both there. "Later Kid, T. Have fun."

As Jack left Xander looked at Teal'c, "Hey, Teal'c, I've got something I'd like your help with if you don't mind."

"How may I be of assistance, Alexander of Furling?" Teal'c asked. Xander shook his head. No matter how many times he asked he didn't think that Teal'c would ever call him Xander. Still, he began talking to the big guy explaining his idea.

Tony and Tim were waiting for Abby to show up. They hadn't told her about Xander, just that it was really important that they meet for lunch. And she would regret it if she didn't come. When she arrived, she was with a Brunette and another man with curly hair.

"Tim, Tony. Guys, meet Angela and Hodgins," Abby said. "They came in with the FBI and the Jeffersonian team. Guys, this is Tony and Tim, they're with NCIS."

After everyone had shaken hands Tim said, "Well, we have a few more people to meet. One of the locals invited us to join him for lunch."

"One of the locals," Hodgins asked. "I didn't think any of them were here on base. I mean have you looked at this town? Aside from the incredibly freaky nature of the bodies we're examining, this whole place stinks of a cover up going back decades, maybe more than a century."

"Yeah," Tony said. "We were checking out the movies they had going this morning and met a guy who grew up here. Figured it would be a good idea to get his take on Sunnydale."

"Yeah," Hodgins said. "I wonder if he'll know anything about the crazy cover-ups they've had here."

"There he is," Tim said, pointing to a group of three men. A large black man with a gold tattoo, an older Air Force Colonel and a young man of about nineteen or twenty. "Come on," Tim said starting to lead them over.

Angela grabbed Hodgins, "Hey you recognize the young guy?" She asked.

Hodgins looked, "No, should I?"

Angela nodded, "He's the one from the videos I've been going over. The one that can teleport."

"No Way!" Hodgins said.

Angela nodded, "Way."

Watching the group Hodgins smile, "This will be fun."

Once everyone was together they headed in and got their food. Jack and Teal'c were accustomed to how much Xander ate by now. Everyone else was shocked, "How can you eat so much and not be like three hundred pounds?" Abby asked.

Xander smiled at the girl, who seriously needed to stop dressing like Drusilla. "Just a really good metabolism. I burn a lot of calories with what I do." Looking at everyone he asked Jack, "So how do you think it's going? I mean having all these different groups here?"

"I think I'll be happy once General Hammond and the President gets somebody else to be in charge here. I mean really, give me a straight up fight against a System Lord any day. They are much easier to handle, right T?"

Teal'c looked at Jack and said, "Indeed, I pity da fool." It had taken Xander almost ten minutes of coaching to get Teal'c to say it with just the right inflection. But it was worth it. Jack had just started to take a drink of his coffee when Teal'c delivered the line.

Jack's coffee splattered everywhere as he choked. Tony had started laughing at the well-delivered line. 'You tell him, Mr. T," Tony said.

Xander was laughing and holding his sides. Everyone else started to laugh; even Teal'c had a small smile on his face.

Once Jack could breathe again he looked at Xander, "I take it I have you to thank for this?"

Xander nodded. "However, I couldn't have done it alone. Teal'c had to practice to get the voice down just right."

Jack thought for a moment. "I won't take revenge on one condition," He paused, once Xander indicated he was listening he said, "Don't tell anyone about this yet. I want to get the General, Sam, and Danny." Jack grinned at their probable reactions. Internally Jack was beating himself up, "iHow could I have missed this? It's perfect!/i"

Xander agreed, "I really hope I'm there to see it," he said.

"So what's it like being an Alien?" Tony asked.

Abby looked at Tony, "What are you talking about, Tony?"

"Xander, he's the Alien we saw on those tapes," Tony supplied.

"What?" Abby said. Turning to Xander she asked, "Are you really an Alien?"

"Hey I was born here," Xander protested. "Right here in Sunnydale lived here all my life. If you want someone born on another planet Teal'c's your man."

Abby turned to Teal'c looking at him questioningly. "Indeed," Teal'c said. "I was born on Chulak."

Abby was getting very excited when Hodgins added, "Hey don't let him fool you, Xander is the one on the videos we've been checking out. And the reports said he and some of the other's are something called Furlings."

Abby turned to glare at Xander. "Hey no glaring," Xander protested. "Yeah ok technically I'm part alien, but really I was born on Earth and didn't even know about the other stuff till we met the Asgard."

"Who are the Asgard? I mean the name sounds familiar," Hodgins asked. Jack was listening to the conversation. Everyone that had been brought in had already been cleared to know the details of the programs. He was intrigued to see what happened with so many people knowing the truth.

"The Asgard," Xander said. "Really old, and an extremely powerful race of Aliens. They look like the Roswell Grays."

"No Way," said Hodgins. "So they have been abducting humans for experimentation?"

"Actually,' Jack broke in. "They really frown on that type of thing. They have one loose cannon named Loki. He's probably behind all the abduction stories. For the most part, Thor and all the rest are really good guys."

"Thor, Loki?" Tim asked. "Like from the comics?"

Xander laughed, "I thought the same thing when I first heard about them." He shook his head, "No, they are the reason we have the myth about the Norse gods. It was the Asgard trying to influence our development."

"So," Hodgins said. "You're telling me Aliens have been trying to control us for thousands of years?"

"NO," Teal'c emphatically said, "The Asgard were attempting to aid the Tau'ri. After the damage caused by the Goa'uld's conquest of your planet, they felt it would be beneficial for your people to have additional outside influences."

"Hodgins," Angela said. "Not everything is a conspiracy."

"How can you say that?" Hodgins asked. "After everything we're seeing here. I mean this whole town reeks of conspiracy."

Angela was looking at Hodgins. She patted his cheek, "You poor, poor man."

"Actually, he's right," Xander said. Everyone looked at him. "About Sunnydale anyway. The last Mayor, Richard Wilkins, the first, second and third, built the town as part of a big plan he had to ascend to an upper-level demon. And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for us meddling kids."

Turning to Jack, Xander said, "Do you think maybe we should have a big pow-wow where Dad can explain everything? All the Scoobies could be there as well to answer any questions."

"I'll see what I can do, kid," Jack said. Everyone ate their food, talking about various subjects. Tim was astonished to find out that Teal'c was a fan of Star Wars.

"Well it was one of the groundbreaking cinematic works," Tony said. "And seriously Carrie Fisher in the gold bikini? Rawr."

"Tony, I doubt Teal'c likes Star Wars because of women in bikinis," Tim said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "It is the great struggle of the Rebellion against the forces of the Evil Empire. It speaks to all Free Jaffa, reminding us that one day we will overthrow the False Gods. And with the return of the Furlings, we now have the forces of the Jedi joining our struggle."

Xander looked shocked that Teal'c would compare him to Jedi. Tony thought for a moment, "Whoah, that was deep," he said. "So does that mean you have a light saber?"

"Nope," Xander smirked. "Just a Starship."

"Cool," Tim said. "What's her name?"

"Enterprise," Xander said with a grin. He was amazed that the only one who shook their heads in disapproval was Angela. Everyone else, including Tony, looked like they approved of the name.

Jack got up, excusing himself. Teal'c also left, he was planning on meeting with Master Bra'tac before Bra'tac had to leave for the treaty talks. The other's stayed talking to Xander. They had already finished eating but he still was putting away his food. Once Xander had finished, Tony said. "God if I ate like that I'd be a blimp."

"Yeah, The way we figure it," Xander said as they were walking to put up their trays. "Our powers use some of our own energy and that boosts our metabolism. The more I do the more I need to eat."

Hodgins nodded his head, "That makes a lot of sense," he said. "Oh hey, you mind meeting my boss?"

"Ah sure," Xander said. "I've still got some time before I have to go."

"Great," Hodgins said. "She's right over there with Booth." He pointed to an attractive thin brunette woman who was talking to some guy. The man's back was to Xander. Leading Xander over to the table, "Dr. Brennan, Booth," Hodgins said, "I'd like to introduce you to Alexander Giles, one of the Furlings."

Bones had looked up at Dr, Hodgins as he introduced the young man. She placed the name as the species of aliens they had been told about, most likely a root for their name of Furling Descendants. "It's good to meet you," she said.

"What kind of a name is Furlings?" Booth asked turning to the newcomer.

"HOLY SHIT," Xander exclaimed. "DEADBOY!" Xander took a step back. It was Angel, except they guy was sitting where sunlight was hitting him. He had a half-eaten plate of food in front of him, and he looked older than Angel.

'Why are you calling Booth 'Deadboy'?" Bones asked. "I can assure you he is quite alive."

Booth was looking at him. What the hell was this kid on?

Xander looked at Booth again, "Holy shit," He reiterated. "You look exactly like him."

"Like who?" Booth asked.

"I highly doubt that Booth and this other person are exact duplicates," Bones said. "Even identical twins are not identical."

Xander looked at her, "Wow this is freaky," he said. "Wait till Buffy meets you." As he said the words he realized how badly that could go. "Oh Crap, oh crap Buffy." Looking at the group he said, "YOU," pointing at Booth, "You stay right here, this could be really bad, I need to get Dad and probably Jack." Xander orbed, leaving Hodgins, Angela, Bones and Booth staring at where he had just been.

"How'd he do that?" Booth asked.

"Amazing," Bones said. When everyone looked at her she said, "Well it is. Amazing: something that causes great surprise or wonder. I think that the evidence would support my statement."  
_

Xander orbed to Giles who was sitting at home in the Summers house. "Dad," he said. "Big problem. I need you to come with me."

"Of course, Xander," Giles said. "Just give me a moment." As Giles gathered his things he asked, "What is the problem?"

"I've got to grab Jack, then I'll show you," Xander said, putting his hand on Giles's shoulder.

Jack had been going over the endless paperwork he was responsible for. He enjoyed taking the time off but General Hammond had told him if the paperwork wasn't done he would not be relieved as Base Commander until it was all done. Jack had already written the letters for those who had died. It wasn't something he would ever procrastinate or put off.

Xander orbed into the office, Jack looked up and noticed Rupert was with him. "What's the rush, Kid?"

"I need you to come with me," Xander said. "We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Jack asked. So far the problems Xander had brought to him were the Earth shattering kind. "Do I need to mobilize teams?"

Xander shook his head. "Different kind of problem." Reaching out to Jack, he said, "Just come with me." Xander orbed back into the mess hall.

Once Giles and Jack realized where they were they turned to Xander demanding an explanation. Xander pointed to Booth. "He's the problem."

Giles looked at Booth, 'Oh dear Lord," he said. The man was obviously not Angel since he was standing in the sunlight.

"What's the problem?" Jack asked. "Isn't he one of the FBI guys? What'd he do?"

"I'd like to know what I did too," Booth said. "He took one look at me, called me 'Deadboy' and was saying 'Oh Shit'. What gives?"

Jack was just as confused. Giles however, laughed. "Yes I can see where you would be confused," Giles said. "And I can see where this may be an issue of some concern." Turning to Jack he said. "I believe we will need a room of some kind to explain everything and we must keep Buffy away from… I'm sorry what is your name?"

"Booth, Seeley Booth," Booth said. "I'm here with the FBI and the Jeffersonian. He mentioned something about Buffy too." Booth left the obvious question hanging.

"Yes," Giles said. "I strongly suggest that we retire to a less public venue to explain what is going on to you."

Jack nodded, "Sure you betcha," he said. At least this beat doing paperwork.

"Xander, perhaps you could call Willow," Giles suggested. "I would hate for her to be surprised by this as well. Although Buffy is really the only one whose reaction I am worried about."

"Why is that," Bones asked. "Is this Buffy prone to violent outbursts?"

"You could say that," Xander said. "But it's more along the lines of attacking first then saying sorry when she finds out she made a mistake." Bones looked like she was going to say something about that. Xander continued, "With our lives, it's actually a survival trait."

"Interesting,' Bones said.

Xander called Willow and briefly explained that there was an Identical Angel here. After asking if she wanted to join them she said she would meet him later. She and Tara hadn't had much time alone recently and she didn't want to interrupt their date.

"Oh, and by the way," Willow added.

"Yeah?" Xander asked.

"Do NOT orb in on us!" Willow was practically yelling at him..

Xander winced. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

Once everyone was seated in a room, Jack looked at Giles and Xander, "Well," he said. "It's your show."

"Ah yes," Giles said. "I am sorry about our reactions, Agent Booth, but you look exactly like a sometimes ally of ours. His name is Angel. He's a vampire."

"Don't forget," Xander said. "He had a soul." Xander's took on a higher pitch. It was obvious to everyone that he was impersonating someone even if they didn't know who.

"Really," Bones said. "There is no such thing. Belief in the soul is simply something that mankind developed to try and overcome the fear inherent in our inevitable death."

"Actually," Giles said. "Souls are very real. They are an intricate part of existence and creatures that lack them have caused untold destruction throughout the ages. However, the Vampire Angel is different. Vampires are created when another vampire, instead of killing its victim chooses to feed it some of its own blood. This allows the demonic spirit to take possession of the corpse once the soul has left the body. Angel was cursed by gypsies with the restoration of his soul over a century ago."

"There is no such thing as a soul," Bones insisted.

"I assure you, Ms. Brennan," Giles began.

"It's Doctor Brennan," Bones said, "Doctor Temperance Brennan."

"Yes quite, 'Giles said. "If I may continue? Whether or not you chose to acknowledge it, the soul does in fact exist. And Angelus the vampire was cursed by Gypsies with the restoration of his body's original soul. Liam O'Connelly was pulled from the afterlife and forced into his demonically possessed corpse."

"Even if there was a soul," Bones said, not willing to concede the point, "why would they do that rather than kill the vampire?"

"Because of the fact that the demon," Giles began, "would be tormented by the presence of the soul. And the soul would keep the demon from killing."

"How would it do that?" Booth asked.

"Guilt and Brooding," Xander said. "Angel is like the king of Broodiness. If Brooding were an Olympic Sport he would take the Gold. So he just sits going 'poor me I killed all these people'. It's only been in the last few years he's gotten off of his ass and helped people."

"Why would he feel guilty?" Bones asked. "From what I understand, the vampire is not the person it was. I won't agree to the existence of a soul. But if they managed to restore the original personality than he would have nothing to feel guilty about. He wasn't the one to do whatever things the vampire did."

Xander looked at Bones, "Dad, can we keep her? She's awesome, and I want to see Angel when she asks him that."

"Whoah," Booth said. "You're not putting Bones in a room with a vampire. We saw some of those things in their cells at the Initiative. And that's way too dangerous."

"Nah," Xander said. "Angel's different. He's been neutered. He doesn't kill like regular vampires. Right now he's in LA trying to do the whole redemption deal."

"Be that as it may," Giles said. "Angel came to Sunnydale under the direction of the Powers that be. He was the mysterious stranger, who would assist Buffy from the shadows. Buffy fell in love with him and accidently broke his curse." "

"How did she break the curse?" Booth asked.

"She slept with him on her seventeenth birthday," Xander said.

Giles sighed. "So the vampire Angelus was restored. It cut a bloody swath through the town, tormenting Buffy. She couldn't bring herself to realize he was no longer Angel, and so she refused to stake him."

"I hate to say it," Xander said. "But that may have been more Whistler's fault than anyone else's. I know we don't know for sure but it fits with the other things they've done. And I mean the Powers have set Angel up in LA so obviously, they would have been messing with anything to do with him."

"Hmm," Giles said. "Yes, we may want to come back to that idea in the future. But if I may continue, Angel was restored, my daughter-in-law Willow performed the curse this time. And he subsequently left, because he realized the danger of both his own and Buffy's feelings."

"So you're saying that Buffy may experience some kind of Transference when she sees Booth?" Bones asked. "How is that dangerous to Booth?"

"No," Xander said. "When she sees him," pointing to Booth. "She's going to assume he's an evil demon and attack him."

Booth laughed. "So? I mean I think I can handle myself. I'll make sure I don't hurt her till she calms down."

Jack laughed at that. "You have no idea," he said. "Have you seen any of the footage from the battle we had when we retook the Initiative?"

"No, not really, I've been going through Walsh's files," Booth admitted.

"I have," Bones said. "At first, I believed they were fakes. But after seeing the remains and the fact that Angela has said they're real, I think I understand. Is Buffy the brunette or the blonde?"

"Buffy is the blonde,' Xander said. "Faith is the brunette, and my girlfriend."

"Wait," Booth said. "Aren't you married to this Willow?" He knew he had seen somewhere that Giles had one son.

Giles, Jack, and Xander all laughed. "No, he is not," Giles said. "My daughter Tara is married to Willow."

Booth froze at that, he knew there was no way two women could be married to each other in the US at least. "iMaybe it's a British thing,/i" he thought.

"Booth," Bones said. "You need to listen to them. Buffy would kill you."

Jack could tell Booth just didn't get it. "Let him watch the tape, that should convince him. But we still need to bring Buffy into this so that it doesn't go boom."

"How about we kill three birds with one stone?" Xander asked. Once everyone was looking at him he continued. "Booth watches the video, Dad calls Buffy so that we can meet at Angel's place in LA. I take us to LA. We get to watch everything. It's like win, win, win, win so many wins."

Jack looked at Giles, "I kinda like the idea."

Giles groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Unfortunately, I happen to agree. And since I do not have a superior alternative, I think this may be our best option."

Xander quickly called Joyce, after explaining that they needed to see them as soon as possible. He told them to have Cordelia take them to Angel's Hotel. Once Booth had finished watching one of the videos from the fight inside of the Initiative, he agreed to go with them. Bones would have insisted on coming, if Xander hadn't already told her she had to come with them. Jack thought about his waiting paperwork and decided that this was much more important.  
_

Joyce had been enjoying the morning. She had taken the girls with her to the LA County Museum of Art. She had the painting with her. Once there Cordelia and Buffy had dragged Faith to see some of the exhibits. There was one showing a collection of jewelry throughout the ages. Buffy and Cordelia seemed to enjoy that much more than Faith did.

The art expert had come from Sotheby's. Joyce had been lucky he was in town going over an estate that was being auctioned off.

"Thank you for making time to meet with me, Mr. Arvam," Joyce said.

"Yes, it really was not a problem," Mr. Arvam said. He had a slight European accent. "Now Mrs. Summers, may I see the painting you were needing to be authenticated?"

Joyce brought out the painting, carefully allowing him to open its case. "Oh my," Avram said. This looks like iJupiter and Mercurius in the House of Philemon and Baucis/i, It looks to be in remarkable condition. If it's a forgery it was very well done." Avram took over an hour examining the painting. "Mrs. Summers, I am afraid I can't say whether or not it is the actual painting."

"I understand the original was thought to have been lost in World War Two when the Nazi's took it," Joyce said. "So you believe it is a forgery then?"

"Actually," Avram said, "on the surface I believe it is iJupiter and Mercurius in the House of Philemon and Baucis/i However, I would need to perform additional tests, to complete the authentication process. Would you be willing to leave the painting with me?"

"I'm sorry," Joyce said. Something didn't feel right about letting the painting stay with someone else. "While I'm fine if there are some tests you can do here, I will be taking the painting with me."

"But, Mrs. Summers," Avram protested. "You have to realize if this is the original you have no rights to it. It was stolen by the Nazi's and as such should be returned to the owners of record or the Dutch Government! I must insist that it remains here."

"You can insist all you like," Joyce said. "But when I leave that painting will be coming with me."

Avram glared at her, "We shall see about that." Picking up a phone he called the museum security. "Yes, would you please send some guards down, and please call the police. I believe that this painting is a lost masterpiece that was stolen,...No the iIndividual/i is refusing to leave it with us. Yes, thank you." Individual was said with loathing in his voice. As Avram turned back to Joyce he said. "You have forced my hand, I have called the police. Museum security will be here shortly to detain you. You are not leaving with this painting!"

Outside two members of SG-10 were watching. They had been assigned to guard the Furlings by Col. O'Neill. Everyone thought it would be an easy assignment. When they saw five large security guards running in their direction they knew they had thought wrong.

While one of them called the others, they both rushed to help protect Joyce Summers. When they tried to enter the area two of the Guards blocked their way. Even as the two guards demanded they turn around both men attacked. It was a bad day to be a security guard, two museum guards against two elite marines assigned to the SGC. SG-10 wouldn't even call it a warm up fight.

Entering the room Joyce was in, they saw one guard had Mrs. Summers pinned to a wall. Her arm twisted behind her.

Avram seeing two large men enter the room called out, "Get out. This woman is going to be arrested. She has stolen property in her possession."

Both members of SG-10 drew their sidearms, "You will release Mrs. Summers immediately," the ranking officer Captain Lee said. "I am authorized to use lethal force to protect her."

"Who do you think you are?" Avram demanded.

"Captain John Lee, United State Marine Corps." Captain Lee replied. "You have to the count of three before we will make sure you can not threaten Mrs. Summers ever again."

The three security guards looked at the two marines and slowly let Joyce go. They backed away.

"The Police have already been summoned," Avram declared. "You won't be able to get away with this!" Joyce walked over to the man and punched him in the face. Avram fell to the floor, clutching his broken nose. "I will sue you and have you charged with assault!" he tried to say. It was difficult to understand him with his broken nose.

Cordelia, Buffy, Faith and the rest of SG-10 showed up right then. "Mom," Buffy cried out. "What happened?"

Faith looking at the guy holding a broken nose and her obviously pissed off mother said, "Whoa, you took that guy out. Way to go Mom!"

Once Joyce explained to Captain Lee and the girls what had happened she had to restrain all three of the girls from hitting Avram more. The other members of SG-10 looked like they would have been happy to help. Captain Lee had already called an Emergency number that Jack had given him. He was put through to Brian Moreland. When he explained what had happened, Moreland groaned. "I'll be talking with the Chief of Police for LA County within the next five minutes. Do not let them try and take Mrs. Summers anywhere."

Normally for a low priority call, the police would have taken longer to arrive, especially when they had been informed that the suspect was being held for them. But when the Chief of Police of LA County gets a call from the White House, response times improve dramatically. Within ten minutes of receiving the call the Chief had already tracked down which department would be handling the case and called its Captain, The Captain was ordered to personally take care of the problem. So ten minutes later the Captain along with two sergeants arrived at the Museum.

Once the full story was told the Captain turned to Avram, "So you don't know for sure this is the actual painting, and when Mrs. Summers refused to leave it with you, you attempted to illegally seize it. You had the security personnel assault her, and illegally restrain her? Is that correct?"

"She has no right to that painting," Avram declared. "It belongs to the Dutch Government, if it is authentic, I demand you arrest her and charge her for possessing stolen property and assault!"

"The only people I am arresting today, are you and these guards." The Captain said. While he was talking, Captain Lee received a call. Checking the number he saw it was Moreland. Answering the call he listened for a moment. He laughed as he hung up. "Something you would like to add Captain Lee?" the Captain asked.

"Yes that was Mr. Moreland of the State Department," Captain Lee said. "Once you're done with Avram he wanted me to let you and him know that his Visa has just been revoked. He is to be held without bail or turned over to the Feds. Once the entire case is done, he will be deported and never allowed re-entry into the United States. He also said that Great Britain will most likely be issuing the same travel ban for Mr. Avram."

Avram was stunned how could this be happening? Turning to Joyce he said. "Who are you?"

Buffy and Faith answered, "She's our Mom," Although Faith added, "Jackass!"

The Captain smiled and said, "I think that answers your question, Mr. Avram. My men will escort you down to the station." Nodding to his men they handcuffed all of the men involved and led them out. "Mrs. Summers, I would love to know who you are as well because you have to be somebody to have a Marine security detail; and the State department on speed dial. But I don't need to know. I hope this doesn't ruin your trip to LA. If you would like; I can leave one of my men to make sure nothing else happens."

"Thank you, Captain," Joyce said. "I don't think that would be necessary. But please don't be too hard on those guards, it really was all that Jackass's fault." Faith giggled when Joyce cursed. Joyce turned to Faith, "Well you were right, he is a Jackass."

Joyce and the girls were leaving the Museum when Xander called. Once he had explained how he really needed to meet them at Angel's she agreed. She still didn't like Angel, but knowing Xander really didn't like him she trusted that it was something important. Gathering the girls and Captain Lee she asked Cordelia to drive them to Angel's.

Xander orbed Jack, Giles, Bones and Booth to the Hyperion Lobby. He figured they still had some time before Joyce and the others arrived. After Orbing, both Booth and Bones had to fight to not throw up. Jack smiled at Booth, "Eventually you get used to it."

"Really?" Booth asked.

"I don't believe I would enjoy having to do that enough times to get used to it," Bones said.

Angel having heard the noise outside of his office opened the door. Seeing Harris there he yelled, "Where's Cordelia, Harris?"

"Deadboy," Xander yelled back. "I know we had this conversation before. The name is Giles, you remember my Dad, right?" He said pointing to Giles.

Angel nodded, "Giles, Harris, whatever, where is Cordelia?"

"Is he always like this?" Booth asked. He was looking at Angel and it was true, they looked almost identical. Angel looked a bit younger than him.

"Angel turned to Booth, "What the hell?" He said, 'Who is that, why does he look like me?" His mind was wondering if he had been right and some demon had been pretending to be Harris, were they now going to replace him?

"The resemblance is remarkable," Bones said. "I think the difference in height would be millimeters. And the bone structure between the two of them. I can understand why you would think Booth was this Angel."

"Angel," Giles said. "We will be meeting with Buffy and the others shortly. We felt we needed to introduce her to Agent Seeley Booth in a controlled situation."

The front doors of the hotel opened and Wesley came in with a young Black man. "Yo Angel," The black guy called out. He and Wesley stopped, "Sorry dawg I didn't know you had company."

"Mr. Giles, Mr. Harris," Wesley said. "What brings you and your," Wesley paused as he saw Booth. "Remarkable guests here?"

"Wesley," Giles said. "I am afraid you're mistaken. Xander is a Giles, not a Harris. And we are here awaiting the arrival of Joyce, Buffy, Faith and Cordelia."

Wesley's face went white, "Faith is coming?" Wesley asked, "I'm not sure it would be prudent for me to be here. My Father called me the other night; to explain to me just how I had failed Ms. Summers as a Watcher. I never even thought to check for compulsion spells or anything of that Nature."

Giles looked at Wesley. He was a prat, but it was obvious he was blaming himself for failing Faith. "Wesley, none of us did, and the only one who even attempted to reach out to her was Xander. Because of the spells on Faith she almost killed him as well. While it is true you are at times a prat, you were not the only to fail to help Faith."

"Stay," Xander said. "I think it'll be good for you. Oh, and have you met Faith's Dad?" Xander said.

Wesley looked surprised, iwhat was Harris, ah Giles, ah Xander going on about?/i

Xander grinned, "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force. Jack, this is Wesley Wyndam-Price, formerly Faith's watcher. He's the guy who called the Council wet works team and set them on Faith."

Jack jerked his head, Wesley suddenly felt afraid. He found out he was right to be afraid as less than a second later Jack's fist introduced itself to Wesley's face. The ground came up as well to say hello.

"You ever try to do anything like that to Faith or any other young girl again and I will make it so no one on Earth will ever find your body," Jack said as he reached down and pulled Wesley up.

Angel had started moving towards his friend. Giles stepped between him and Jack. "Angel, I believe Jack has every right to thrash Wesley in this case. However, I promise you he will not seriously harm him."

Gunn had moved to defend Wesley. He didn't know the whole story but Wesley was one of his boys now. And you didn't abandon your boys. Xander blocked Gunn. "Let the two of them work this out."

"What, whitebread," Gunn said. "You think you can take me?"

Xander looked at Gunn. He really didn't want to have to fight the guy. Seeing as how he hadn't even really met him and here he was trying to stand up for a friend. Xander smiled and said, "Pants."

Whiteboy was crazy. He had this freaky smile and he says 'Pants' what the hell? "Whoa," Gunn said stepping back. A blue light formed in Xander's hands and Xander was holding a pair of pants. Suddenly Gunn noticed it felt a little cool in here, maybe even a little drafty. Xander smirked and looked down. Gunn followed the look and saw he was now standing with his shoes still on, his boxers on and his pants gone.

"Heads up," Xander called out. Gunn looked up and saw his pants flying towards him.

"Damn Dogg," Gunn said. "What are you?"

Xander looked at Gunn, Wesley was already getting up. And Angel had backed away. "Giles, Xander Giles," He said in a British accent, holding out his hand.

Gunn laughed, "Damn, I guess you alright." He held up his fist to bump it instead. Xander bumped back.

"OK, I still want to know where is Cordelia?" Angel demanded.

As the door to the Hyperion opened Joyce, Cordelia, Buffy and Faith walked in followed by SG-10.

"Geeze Angel," Cordelia said. "What is your damage? I could hear you from outside and I'm right here."

Buffy was not looking happy to be here. Walking in she looked at the room and spotted Angel, and she saw him in game face. He was looking at the other people in the room she saw plenty of people she didn't know, and Angel. "What?" Buffy said. "Angel and Angel? Did someone use the rod thingy on Angel? The Fairy Gummy Ruler?"

Xander smiled, "Hey, she's taking it pretty well."

Buffy glared at Xander, "Splainy NOW!" came Buffy's demand.

"Buffy," Giles said. "Allow me to introduce Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. We wanted you to meet him here so that you would not be as shocked if you encountered him at the Base."

Buffy stalked up to Booth, "He really does look like Angel, but he looks older."

"Yeah well I'm not him," Booth said. "For one thing, I'm an FBI agent and for another, I wouldn't be sleeping with an underaged girl." The last was finished with a glare directed at Angel.

"Hey," Buffy yelled. "How did you know that?"

"Really Booth," Bones said. "In most cultures, a girl of seventeen is already a Wife or Mother. It's only in the last few centuries that western cultures have assigned an arbitrary number to maturity. And even then the number varies from group to group."

Faith had been watching the show but she had also noticed Wussley was holding the side of his face like someone had hit him. Moving up to Xander she said, "What happened to Wussley?"

Xander smirked, "He met your Dad."

Faith looked surprised turning to Jack she said, "Really?"

"He had it coming," Jack said. Faith rushed over to him and hugged him. Jack automatically hugged her back. "Nobody gets to treat you that way," Jack whispered to Faith.

"Can somebody please tell me what is going on?" Joyce asked. "How can Agent Booth look so much like Angel?"

"The most likely explanation is that Booth is a descendant of Liam O'Connolly," Bones said. "It would explain the similar features."

Giles nodded, "That actually makes a great deal of sense. What do you know about who your descendant may be?"

Angel looked down, "Angelus tried to make sure any children I had, before being turned, he hunted them down and killed them."

"How many children did you have," Bones asked. "Could he have missed one?"

"I knew of six," Angel said. It was obvious he wasn't happy talking about this in front of Buffy.

"I infer from your answer," Bones began, "That you were a rake."

Angel nodded, Buffy looked at Bones, "What's a rake?"

"Yeah Bones," Booth said. "What's a rake?"

"A rake was slang," Bones said. "Used between sixteen to eighteen hundred. It generally meant a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute or promiscuous habits."

"So a male slut?" Faith asked.

"Yes," Bones replied.

"Yo Dawg was a playa," Gunn said. "Nothin wrong with that."

"Well from the way he reacts to his actions," Bones said. "He actually was abandoning the women after he impregnated them."

"Angel," Buffy asked. "Is that true?"

"Look," Angel began. "It was a different time and I wasn't a good man."

Buffy looked at Angel, then turned away. "Xander, take me home."

"Buffy," Angel called out.

Buffy ignored him and walked over to Xander, "Now"

Xander looked at Joyce. "I'll come with you." She walked over to Xander. "Jack, make sure Faith and Cordelia get home safely."

Jack nodded as Xander orbed out.

Cordelia looked at everyone, "Well that went well."

_  
Special thanks to HMaxMarius for the a-team joke.

Angel's last name taken from popular surnames in Ireland the Connolly were from Galway which matched his back story. 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.  
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Chapter 9 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cordelia looked at everyone, "Well that went well."

Angel looked like he wanted to leave, but the mystery of who Booth was kept him from leaving.

"I take it from Buffy's reactions," Bones said, "she was not aware of your past?"

Angel didn't answer.

"I don't believe she ever really wanted to know," Giles said. "She has never wanted to understand the true nature of Angelus. Who he was, what he did, she refused to see it. She also had built up an ideal of who Angel was. I am afraid that has been shattered."

"I see," Bones said. "Still," Bones turned to Angel, "Is it possible you had children that you were unaware of?"

A frustrated Angel said, "Yes, it's, I was a rake. I didn't care about any of the women I slept with. So it's possible I missed some when I was killing my children."

"I see what Xander meant," Bones said. "Angel obviously can not distinguish between the actions of the vampire and the original personality." Turning to Angel, "You do at least understand, that based on what I have been told the original personality of Liam O'Connelly was not responsible for any of the deaths that the vampire Angelus would have caused. Since the original personality was not present to prevent those deaths if you are Liam why are you claiming responsibility?"

Angel opened his mouth, unsure of how to respond, finally, he said. "I see everything Angelus did. I know everything he felt when he was killing, and torturing, how good it felt to kill a child while its parents watch. I can feel what he felt and it sickens me at the same time it feels good." Angel thought that would shut her up.

"I understand," Bones said. "You're reacting like many rape victims. They hated what was done to them, but at times their bodies physical reactions indicated taking pleasure from being raped. You haven't disassociated the different aspects of the situation. While normally I frown upon psychology, I believe you might benefit from discussing this with someone."

Xander came back as Bones finished speaking, "Booth found it very useful in overcoming his irrational hatred of clowns."

"Bones," Booth cried out in protest.

"There is nothing irrational about hating clowns," Xander declared. "All Clowns are evil." Booth was silently shaking his head in agreement.

"So what did I miss?" Xander asked.

"Not much kid, Bones over there just took Angel apart for feeling guilty about what his counterpart did," Jack said.

"What! No," Xander said. "I was looking forward to seeing that." Turning to Bones, Xander asked, "Could you do it again?"

Bones ignored him and turned to Angel, "I would like to try and take a DNA sample from you. None of the vampires remains we have tested have shown any DNA. It's possible that the vampiric state destroys the DNA but since we have never taken any DNA from an animated Vampire we can't test that. With you, we can test that and then test it against Booth to see if there is a familial connection."

"Yo, what'd white girl say?" Gunn asked.

"She wants to try and check if we're related," Booth said. "Because being related to one crazy murderer wouldn't be enough for me I guess."

Seeing everyone looking at him Bones said, "Booth is a related to John Wilkes Booth. Really though Booth, ancestry has no bearing on who a person is. It will affect physical characteristics, but you are who you choose to be."

"Yeah Bones," Booth said. "I know. I know."

Gunn decided now might be a good time to change the subject. "So Princess Barbie, you finally back?"

"Princess Barbie," Faith and Xander asked as they turned to Cordelia.

"I don't know, I can kind of see it," Xander said.

"Well she definitely has the Barbie look," Faith added.

Cordelia glared at all of them, "No Gunn, just visiting. We're still working on things. And once we're done with this current job, Giles and everyone are going to be trying to fix the pain my visions cause."

"Fix?" Angel said, panic in his voice. "They're going to try and get rid of your visions? But how will we know who to help?"

"Is that all you're worried about, Deadboy?" Xander's voice was filled with contempt. "Those visions are killing Cordy. Every time she has one it destroys part of her brain. So Fuck You and the Powers, your redemption is not worth Cordy's life!"

"What are you talking about?" Angel demanded.

"Cordelia," Wesley said. "Is this true? Are the visions killing you?"

"Yo how are we going to stop this?" Gunn asked. "Ain't worth Barbie's life."

Jack noticed the different reactions, Gunn's he approved of, Wesley's wasn't bad. But Angel's reaction was downright pitiful.

"Everybody shut up," Cordelia yelled. "Angel, we're talking about the fact that every time I get one of those visions, it destroys part of my brain. Yes, Wesley, it's true. And we're working on figuring it out, Gunn."

Angel shut his mouth, he didn't know what to say. Wesley immediately got up and went over to Cordelia, Gunn was right beside him. "What do you need?" Wesley asked. "Gunn and I will help you in any way we can. If you need research or even just someone to talk to we're here."

"Thanks, Wes, Gunn," Cordelia said.

Angel looked at Giles. "Can you cure her? Xander's right; my redemption isn't worth her death."

"We will be working on it," Giles said. "Right now we have the means to prevent further damage, and we are looking into ways to repair what was already damaged. But either way, we will save Cordelia. Even if it means that Gods have to die, we will find a way to save her." The air seemed to shimmer as Giles spoke. It was so slight an event and for such a brief moment that everyone who saw it thought it was nothing. A momentary blinking of the eyes and their vision was clear again. In Africa Drusilla shivered and cried in her sleep.  
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Xander had dropped Buffy and Joyce off at the Summers house. Although they might have to start calling it the Summers-Giles house soon. Buffy had gone up to her room, Joyce followed. Opening Buffy's bedroom door her oldest daughter was just sitting on her bed, silent tears falling from her eyes.

Entering the room Joyce said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Buffy looked at her Mom, "I always thought he was so noble," she cried. "That he had always been good. And that had to be why he was brought back. But he wasn't," Buffy was sobbing by now. "He was just like Parker! Did he ever really love me?" Buffy asked her Mother.

Joyce sat down and held Buffy, "Buffy, I love you," She knew this would be hard. "But I think you need honesty right now. I think Angel thought he loved you."

"What?" Buffy sniffled. "What do you mean, does that mean he did love me?"

Joyce shook her head, "He thought he loved you, that's different than saying he loved you. Buffy if you really loved someone you always try to be your best with them. You sacrifice for them. You protect them. You support them. But in order to do any of those things, you have to feel some kind of love for yourself. I don't know what Angels life was like before he became a Vampire. But it's plain to see that he despises what he is now. If he can't even accept himself how can he really love you?"

Buffy held onto her Mother as she cried.  
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When Captain Lee reported what had happened while at the Museum, Jack was glad he had assigned backup for Joyce and the girls. All of the other males except Angel were ready to go down to the LA precinct to teach Mr. Avram a lesson. Even Booth was wanting to go and he had just met Joyce.

When Bones asked about what painting and they showed it to her she was impressed. "I believe this is something Angela could easily authenticate," Bones said. "And right now she's not very busy with anything else so it wouldn't take her away from anything else."

"You think it's real Bones," Booth asked.

"On a cursory examination just taking into account Rubens previous works, and the known history of the painting," Bones began. "It is either the best forgery ever seen or it's the authentic painting."

"Wow," Xander said. "You can tell all of that from just looking at it? I thought you just did dead bodies."

"I am a cultural and forensic anthropologist," Bones explained. "Art is part of a culture."

"So how much would that thing be worth," Gunn asked.

"Because of its unique status as a lost masterpiece? I would guess it would sell at auction for over fifty million dollars," Bones quickly added, "However, I am not an expert appraiser it could go for much more than that."

"Holy Shit," Faith said. "And Shemp just gave that to Mom?"

Bones wanted to ask who Shemp was but Xander cut her off. "Look as fun as this is we have a meeting in a little while and unless you guys want to be stuck here I need to orb you back to Sunnydale."

"Xander would it be permitted for Gunn and I to come and assist Cordelia," Wesley asked.

"Once we're ready to start researching I'll make sure you're part of it," Cordelia said. While still disappointed in Angel. Wesley and Gunn were both showing they were true friends.

"Cordy," Angel said. "I'm going to try to find out anything I can from the demon community. We'll make sure you get better from this."

Cordelia nodded as she left with Xander. It wasn't the initial reaction she had hoped for from Angel, but at least it was something.  
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Arriving back at the base Bones and Booth were left behind as the Scoobies were beamed up to the Bautarsteinn. The Asgard had set up a large room so that all the parties could easily fit at the table.

As everyone sat down Brian Moreland asked to be allowed to speak first. Once everyone had agreed to that he started out. "Over the last several days we have tried to iron out what we could agree to between ourselves and the Furling Descendants. As I'm sure Ms. Chase and the others would attest to we have at times been stuck on certain points. With the arrival of the Tok'ra and the Free Jaffa, we realized," He smiled "We realized we probably wouldn't be the only game in town."

"With that in mind last night Lord Reginald, and I met with the President and had a conference call with the Prime Minister and Her Majesty. We now have an offer we would like to present to the Furlings which we believe will satisfy all of your requirements."

A stack of papers were passed around. Lord Reginald took up the presentation at that point. "Our main problems had to do with what was effectively diplomatic immunity, and you're being exempt from the Taxes that all of our citizens are required to pay. The patent and technology rights were minor compared to the other two. In these packets, you will see information on three islands. All are currently uninhabited."

"Why are they uninhabited," Interrupted Cordelia.

"All three islands are rather close together in what is known as the Horse Latitudes. This area was often the bane of wind-powered sailing. Because ships were subjected to extended periods of calm weather. That is probably why these islands were never populated. Or if they had people at one time, there was no trade to make them sustainable. We have narrowed the prospects down to the three Islands we believe would work best. All of them are over ten thousand acres, and could support a large city without any smallest Island is sixteen square miles. The largest is twenty-eight square miles. All three are within five miles of each other. What we are proposing is that we establish one of the three islands as your nation. This way we could enter into a treaty with you as an independent nation."

"Wait so you want us to live on some deserted Island," Willow asked.

"Actually yes and no," Moreland replied. "They're deserted right now. But they are covered in vegetation. And have some wildlife, we would need to build the infrastructure. Adding a military base and city to the island. We also thought it would be the perfect place for the school you wanted to create. It has the added bonus of being a place that we can create a legal fiction; to explain any of the Jaffa or Tok'ra, who do not have identities here on Earth. They could have passports from your nation."

"And you expect us to give up our current citizenships," Giles asked.

"Again no, In fact, her Majesty was rather insistent that you all be allowed to keep your other citizenships. However, we would require that you list your earnings under your new nationality as per our treaty we would have no right to tax those earnings."

"So you're proposing we would be two people legally," Joyce asked. "One the person we are now subject to all the laws we currently live by. And the other citizenship would be for this new nation. And any money we earned would be subject to whichever nation we wanted to report it under?"

"Exactly," Reginald said. "It's a legal fiction but it has been used many times in the past. And we believe it would cover everything you have requested. In fact, we would like to set up a military base and large research center on whichever island you choose. This would act as a place for the new technologies to be studied. We would also set up an airfield and marina to try and ensure that your new nation had everything it would need to move forward."

"It's a very interesting idea," Jacob said. "I believe the Tok'ra could help in setting up parts of a base for you. They've long been masters of very quick construction. Most of it would be underground but that might be a good thing, it would add to the usable land available to you."

"If you would welcome the Free Jaffa, we would be pleased to send people to you to learn and to teach." Master Bra'tac said.

"All the other points we have gone over would be put into an actual treaty between your new nation and both Great Britain and the United States," Moreland said.

"What about Sunnydale," Buffy asked. "We can't leave the Hellmouth unprotected."

"Nothing would require you to live on your island. It would legally be your place of residence, you could even open an embassy in Sunnydale if you wanted to. In fact, we could stipulate that in the treaty as well." Moreland replied.

"In the end, this will allow us to maintain a legal fiction as to why your people are treated differently under the laws of our countries. To make sure this fiction becomes a reality we would have to build the infrastructure of the island so that if anyone tried to verify the presence of your nation there would be something there for them to find. We would like you to seriously consider this offer. We believe it is the best we can do to meet all of your requirements."

Moreland and Thompson sat down. The Scoobies looked at each other. Cordelia stood, "I think I speak for all of us when I say your offer has taken us by complete surprise. We need to discuss this. I'd like to ask Baldur for a private room, where we can talk. I'd also like to ask the rest of you to please stay. We may have some additional questions that need to be answered."

Baldur readily provided them with a room, and the other delegations agreed to wait. Once in the room, Cordelia was the first to speak, "Holy Crap! What are we going to do?"

"Um," Tara began "It sounds like a really good deal."

"After everything that happened this morning, with that jackass," Cordelia said. "It would get us everything we've asked for."

"I personally am struggling with the idea that we would essentially be founding our own nation," Giles said. "The things we would need to have in place, a legal code and what form of government would we establish. I am afraid I have never thought of these things."

"So aside from us having to create the institutions we are all familiar with," Willow said. "Are there any downsides? I mean both Britain and the US would help us build up the island. Can you imagine it getting to create a city that would live for hundreds of years? To build a truly free society. Oh, Tara and I could legally be married there."

"It could be a place where none of us would have to hide our unique abilities," Joyce said. She was thinking about how Buffy had struggled for so many years hiding the fact that she was the slayer. "But I also think it would take years to build. It wouldn't be something that would be ready next week."

"Yes but we could create schools and universities, and when we start learning from the Asgard and the Tok'ra it would be really easy to say that our schools had been working on the technology for years and no one would be able to say we were lying." Willow was getting very excited about the idea of creating their own nation.

"And having the Jaffa come would mean even more people," Buffy said. "We could have a school that taught all about demons, vampires, and aliens. And we could teach people how to fight them."

"It sounds like everyone is in favor," Giles said. "Xander, Faith you haven't said anything. Please, we need your opinions as well."

"Ah," Faith began, "Shi-shoot I don't know it sounds too good to be true. But I think it's a cool idea."

"I like it," Xander said. "But our national symbol would have to be a Great Dane, so we'd have to buy some for the island. The other thing is which island? I mean they're all sort of small."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Too bad we can't take em all." Everyone looked at Faith, could they?

"Why can't we," Buffy asked. "I mean they said their all like close to each other. So why not get all three. Then we could have more choices."

"I doubt that they would want to develop all three islands," Giles pointed out. He refrained from pointing out that only to Americans would any of the offered islands seem _really_ small.

"But they wouldn't need to," Tara said. "Once we start producing technology we should make a lot of money, so we could do that on our own. It would just be the first island that we'd need help with."

"And if we have three islands we could call ourselves the Federation," Xander said. Willow looked excited by the idea.

"You dork," Cordelia said. "You just want to call the ship the Federation Starship Enterprise."

Xander grinned, "Yeah isn't it cool!"

"You do know Roddenberry could sue you?" Cordelia said.

"Right because he'd be upset to learn about an actual Enterprise with transporters and everything she has?" Xander shook his head. "He'd be asking for a tour of her. Plus we'd be our own country, he couldn't sue us."

"I believe we have an answer," Giles said. "God help us, we are going to do this."

"So what are we going to call our country?" Willow asked. "I mean legally we're already the Furling Descendants, sort of, so we could call the islands the Furling Islands. Oh, we could even name them like one Asgard, the other Tau'ri, and the third Free Jaffa. That way it would make sense if anyone heard us talking. Maybe name the first city Tok'ra, which would be sort of cool since we would really be against Ra since he killed the whitelighters and elders."

"What we really need," Xander said, "Is someone who's really good at like gaming to plan everything out." When everyone except Willow and Faith looked at him like he was crazy he added. "Look any really good GM is planning all the little details of the game, we need someone like that."

"Well, I know David Nabbit is," Cordelia said. "He loves this stuff, but he might be busy running his international business."

"Don't you mean a really _nerdy_ GM," Buffy asked.

"Hey," Willow protested. "I always thought that was the really fun part."

"So what other gaming geeks do we know who could do it for us?" Buffy asked. "Because as much as it sound like Willow wants to do this, I think she would need help." Everyone agreed that Willow would be in charge of designing their new home if she could find the time.

Returning to the conference room, Cordelia addressed the group. "We discussed your offer and we believe it has merit." She had really thought about trying to sound as regal as possible. "However, when discussing everything we decided that we would like to have all three islands. We want to rename them the Furling Islands. the area between all three of them would be considered our country's waters."

Both Moreland and Thompson looked at each other, "That should be something we can do, However, we would only be helping to build up one of the islands."

"We thought of that," Cordelia said. "We also thought that once we began producing technology; we would be able to develop the other islands. However, we have talked about what we would be known as; We decided we would officially be the Federation of the Furling Descendants. And we will rename the three islands, they will be Asgard, Tau'ri and Free Jaffa. Together the three islands would be the Furling Islands. Our first city will be Tok'ra. So really we would only want your help in building Tok'ra."

Jacob started to laugh, turning to Xander he said, "This was your idea wasn't it?"

"What was my idea," Xander asked.

"The Federation," Jacob said. "Your ship is going to be the Federation Starship Enterprise." All the humans in the room quickly got the point.

"That seems to be a noble name Alexander of Furling," Master Bra'tac said. "The Federation Starship Enterprise, it is a fine name for a ship."

The rest of the meeting was dedicated to finalizing the treaty, before the night was over they had a broad agreement outlined. The largest Island would be Tau'ri with the Capital city named Tok'ra. The next largest island would be Free Jaffa, and the final island would be Asgard. The US and Great Britain would be allowed one square mile for a joint base. The base would be located as part of the main harbor for the island. And would have an airfield next to it, capable of landing even the largest aircraft that was currently in use. They asked the Tok'ra to help plan the city, Selmak and Lantesh agreed, both said it would be an interesting challenge.

By the time the meeting was over, the Scoobies felt wrung out. They knew something momentous had just happened but couldn't imagine how this would alter their future. It would take at least the rest of the week for the diplomats to finish the final wording of the treaty. Then they would present it to the Scoobies.

The Free Jaffa were welcomed as friends and allies, in fact, Buffy requested that Bra'tac choose forty families with children to come live on the island. Once they were ready to have people living there. Bra'tac was moved by the obvious desire of the Furlings to make sure the Free Jaffa were welcomed in the Furlings new home.

The next day Giles received a call from Lord Reginald asking if they could meet. Giles agreed replying that currently he was free, and could have Xander bring him. An hour later and Giles and Xander were sitting down with Lord Reginald.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Lord Reginald said. "As I am sure your son informed you, during his meeting with Her Majesty, she informed him that she will be elevating you to the Peerage. Whilst it is uncommon, Her Majesty is rather insistent that we begin planning the event. She would like you to present yourself and your family to her as soon as possible."

"How soon, is as soon as possible," Xander asked. "I mean I could orb everyone over to England now."

"Um, perhaps not that soon," Lord Reginald said. "You will have to be kitted out in clothing appropriate for meeting the Queen, formal gowns for the Ladies and Suits for both yourself and your Father."

"And you must realize Xander," Giles said. "If we failed to allow Buffy and Cordelia the chance to be formally attired, I believe they might kill us." Turning to Lord Reginald, "Would you be able to set up some appointments for us? I realize that Xander and I really will only need new suits, however, I would not know where to start for formal gowns for the Ladies."

"I would be pleased to do so. I can arrange for several showings at our Los Angeles Embassy, that way all of the Ladies can have a pleasant afternoon whilst seeing what is being offered.  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Faith had been enjoying a quiet morning with her Dad. Even thinking those words, brought a rush to her. Faith had cornered Sam and explained that she wanted to do something with her Dad but wasn't sure what to do. Sam had explained about Jack's love of fishing. She had asked Xander if he would take them to the pond, after finding out Jack loved to fish. She wasn't sure about fishing but figured it would be a place to start.

The entire morning had been great, Dad had shown her how to bait the hook. They had sat and talked. Jack had even told her about Charlie. She had told him about Diane when she cried he held her. When they did catch a fish Jack would just release it back into the pond. He had explained that fishing was about enjoying the quiet, not really about the fish.

"So," Jack began, "Tell me about you and Xander." He was enjoying getting to know his daughter and this was one of the subjects he knew he needed to ask about.

"Well," Faith said. "It's weird. I mean shit, I never thought I would be with anyone real. I mean he really loves me. And when we were in Heaven the other Xander explained how much Boytoy loved me. Not like just wanting the bod. But real love, he like came every week to visit me when I was in a coma, and he would read to me. He even brought me a stuffed Snoopy dressed up like a biker." Faith smiled, she now had the same stuffed animal on her bed at home.

"And even with me being so messed up," Faith paused. "He doesn't care about wa-what was done to me. Mom was right when he found out about, How, how I was raped, he didn't blame me. He wanted to go after the guys that had done it." Jack was livid, he wanted to go after them as well, but right now wasn't the time to indulge in those thoughts.

"And when I freaked out and ran away," Faith said. "Mom sent him to bring me back. And he figured out how to find me with his powers. He said it didn't matter where I go he would always find me, and be there for me." Faith was smiling now. "He kissed me for the first time when he found out I liked comics too. I mean we had kissed before but it was always, yeah know me kissing him. When I said I liked comics cause their cool he kissed me.

And when Mom wanted to talk to both of us about sex," Faith started laughing. "Boytoy was like panicking, that was the second time he orbed. He wanted out of there so bad, cause mom was talking about how she knew we had slept together before, but wanted us to not have any sex for like **six months**." Faith paused as she remembered that talk. "I told her no way, I'm mean **six months** that's crazy. But Mom she said she wanted us to have time to just be together without sex. I told her no, no way I was waiting **six months** to sleep with Boytoy again. I told her I'd wait three months, max! And when I told her I really wanted to know what it was like to wake up with Xander holding me, Mom laughed. She said she said no sex, not no sleeping together, but X still doesn't know that part." Faith stopped speaking and looked at Jack.

"So you really love him then," Jack stated.

"Well yeah I mean I've never been in Love, so I think so," Faith was suddenly acting much more like the sixteen-year-old girl she was than her normal personality. "But I know for a fact he loves me! Even had an Angel say so!"

Jack smiled, "I get it Faith," he said. "And I'm OK with you loving him. I'm also going to go on record saying your Mom's right. Keep sex out of it for now. Sleeping together is, well not ok because you're my Daughter. But I understand what you're saying. I only want to ask you to do one thing," Jack asked.

"What's that," Faith asked.

Jack smiled, "When you do just sleep together, without any sex, mind you. I want to know so I can wake him up in the morning." Jack's smile looked almost predatory. "After all from what I've seen the kid has a pretty good sense of humor, I'm sure he'll eventually get the Joke."

Faith looked at her Dad, "You're evil you know that right? And no way I'm doing that the first time we sleep together." Seeing Jack's disappointed look Faith added. "But I could be talked into calling you for the second time."

Jack smiled again, "So what would it take to convince you?"

"Well," Faith drawled. "I really like your leather jacket. Maybe if you were going to be bringing me one when you found Xander I might help ya out."

Jack grinned, "Done."  
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Willow and Tara were spending their day together. With everything that had happened, they wanted time alone. Tara was amazed at how excited Willow was. Everyone had agreed that she could be in charge of designing Tok'ra, she was so excited. Either that or it was the three double cappuccino mochas she had had this morning.

Tara had finally pulled Willow away from her notes and they were walking down Sunnydale Main Street. It was weird even with the entire town being quarantined the people acted like nothing was going on. Willow was still going off about what type of government system they should set up. Seeing a group of tables up ahead, Tara pulled Willow to one of them. When a waitress came out to take their order they quickly order a couple of sodas and some sandwiches.

"Because," Willow said. "Democracy isn't really a good idea when you get too many people. It can become a mob rules type of situation. But a republic and even a monarchy have their own problems. I mean how do we balance everything? We want to make sure that someone doesn't eventually come in and try and take over."

Tara nodded, "Um hum, I think I see what you mean."

"But what are we going to do we need like the perfect kind of Government so that we can protect the people but still keep control?" Willow was getting louder as she spoke.

Jonathan had been sitting down to eat. Since he left Warren and Andrew he wasn't sure what he should do. It wasn't like he had other friends to hang out with. And he just knew Warren was going to get him killed if he stayed around him. He heard Willow shout her question. He hadn't been eavesdropping but she had been really loud.

Looking over at the two women he recognized Willow Rosenberg. Something said " _What do you have to lose?_ " He decided why not? "That's easy Willow."

Willow heard someone say it was easy and call her by name. Turning around she saw Jono. "Jono?" Willow, "How can you say that it's easy. And you shouldn't listen to other people's conversations. It's rude!"

"Willow, honey," Tara took Willow's hand in her own. "You were really loud. I don't think it was his fault."

Willow blushed and said to Jono, "Sorry, I guess I was loud. But how can you say designing a government is easy?"

"Well," Jono said. "Because it is. But it might take some time to explain."

"Please," Tara said. She knew how important this was to Willow. "Why don't you come join us. And tell us why it's easy." Tara really didn't notice how her normal stuttering and shyness had been going away. If she had she wouldn't have minded it in the least.

Jono smiled two really hot babes, were asking him to join them. Jono moved over to their table. "Like I said it's easy. So many great writers have done it already. But I think the best one would be David Weber."

Willow thought for a moment, "Oh like Honor Harrington, David Weber?" Tara recognized the name Honor Harrington she had read a few of the books when she was younger.

"Yeah," Jono said. "But I like the Armageddon Inheritance better."

"I don't know that one," Willow said.

"It's really good," Jono said. "But not as popular as his other books. But the Government is what you wanted to know about right?" When Willow nodded he continued. "So in the book, you have the Emperor, he has like his own armies and planets, but he can't control the entire army because that's controlled by the government. And they are mixed between hereditary lords and lifetime appointments. You can earn a lordship for different things like discovering something or doing some really big heroic thing. And the lifetime appointees, the Emperor can appoint twenty percent of them, and the house of lords and the commons the other eighty percent. Then there are the elected representatives. They control things like taxes. And the Lords and the Elected people balance each other. But the Emperor can veto laws even if they all want it passed. They can call for a referendum and vote for a new emperor but he has to be somebody in the succession and if the Emperor loses the vote all the computers stop taking orders from him."

Willow was listening, this sounded really interesting, "OK but how do they decide who can vote?"

"Ah," Jono thought for a moment, "I don't remember."

"Maybe," Tara said. "You could do it like in Honor Harrington, as long as someone pays more taxes than they take in benefits they can vote?"

Willow had a far away look in her eyes, "Oh that could work," she said. Looking at Jono she reached out, "Come on you have to loan me that book, you have it right?"

"Willow," Tara put her hand on Willow's arm. "We haven't even eaten yet. How about we eat first?"

"Oh, sorry," Willow said. "You're right we should eat then get the book and Jono can come help with the project."

Tara looked at Willow, she knew she was excited, but she didn't know this Jono guy. "Are you sure Willow?"

Willow shook her head, "Me and Xander have known Jono forever, he's cool." Turning to Jono, "Oh do you still like gaming? Because we may need some help."

Jono nodded his head, he wasn't sure whether he was in Heaven of Hell. A hot girl had just called him 'cool' but she was also friends with Xander. But he couldn't recall seeing her with Xander anytime he had seen her recently. So maybe it would be ok, "I yeah, I still like to game but I left the group I was gaming with a few days ago." Jono said, "Why do you need someone to run a game."

Willow smiled, "Oh no, we need someone to help create something much bigger!"

"What are you like writing your own world?" Jono asked. "And what type of system are you going to be playing? Magic, future tech, superheroes?"

Tara smiled, Jono's aura was basically good, but he had been hurt a lot in the past. "If you want to know," she said. "After we're done eating we'll go back to my Dad's store and explain. But you'll have to promise not to tell anyone until everything is out in the open."

"Where's your Dad's store?" Jono would have gone anywhere with the two of them, but he still asked the question.

"Do you know the Magic Box," Tara asked. When Jono shook his head that he did know it, "That's my Dad's store."

"But I thought Mr. Giles the librarian owned the Magic Box," Jono said.

"Yup," Willow confirmed. "He's Tara and Xander's dad."

"Wait Xander's Dad?" Jono asked. "I thought Xander was a Harris?"

"No," Tara said, amazed at how easy it was becoming to tell their cover stories. "Dad, he fooled around a lot when he was younger. And well Xander and I are half brother and sister. His mom was Dad's girlfriend for a while before she married Tony Harris."

"But, but," Jono didn't know how to say it," Aren't you like the same age as Xander?"

Tara smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks, "Well like I said Dad played around...a lot. So yeah we're almost the same age."

"Oh," Jono didn't know what to say. "Well I guess that's ok, I mean it's not like your Dad is still going out and getting girls pregnant right?" Willow started laughing and Tara snickered. "What he is?" Jono asked he would have never pictured Mr. Giles as a playboy.

"We'll explain some other time," Willow said. "But if you want the job, come with us. We can explain more at the store."

Jono figured he had nothing to lose, it was already afternoon and he didn't have anything else to do. So he decided to go with the girls. When they got to the store he stopped, "Whoa, what happened?" Both the girls looked at him. "The Magic Box it's got massive wards on it, it wasn't like this the last time I came here."

"You can do magic," Tara asked.

"Um," Jono said. "Well a little, I mean I can do some spells. But I'm not super powerful."

"Hm," Willow said. "This might be better. Come on in."

Once inside the wards, Jono was amazed it felt so clean here. He had never realized it but stepping outside the store he could tell the difference the wards made. When he commented on it, Mr. Giles said, "Well it could be the presence of the Hellmouth. It would affect everything in Sunnydale."

"Hellmouth," Jono asked. He had read about those but never realized that Sunnydale had one.

Willow started explaining things to him. It all made sense. Then came the really weird part. Willow asked him to promise not to tell anyone what they were going to tell him. "Are you going to put like a magical geas on me?" Jono asked. "To make sure I can't tell anyone?"

"No," Tara said. "We don't like forcing anyone to do something and a geas does that. We'd rather trust someone. Plus your aura is really nice. You've been hurt before but I can tell you're a good guy."

Jono was surprised to hear her say that. "OK, I promise I won't tell anyone what you tell me." Jono was amazed he learned about aliens, **Roswell Greys** they existed. And other kinds of aliens did too. And all of their group were actually aliens. "This is so COOL," he exclaimed at one point.

And they were creating their own Nation, they had three islands that would be there home. This was the coolest thing ever. Then Willow explained about the ship that Xander had, and he was going to name it the Federation Starship Enterprise.

When Xander orbed in with an older guy and Faith he looked at him, and in an awed tone of voice said, "You are so cool."

Xander looked at Jono, he was sitting at the table with Willow and Tara. "Ah thanks, Jono," Xander said. "But why am I so cool?"

"You, you are the Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise," Jono said as if that should explain everything.

"Oh come on," Jack protested. "Are you telling everyone?"

"Really Jack," Giles said. "Tara checked Jonathan's aura before we asked his help. And from listening to him talk with Willow we may have a viable form of Government set up before too long."

"OK, Pretend I know what that means," Jack said.

"When Tara looks at someone's aura she can see what kind of a person they are and tell how they will likely react," Willow explained. "Jono's aura is clean he's a good guy. And he knows about gaming and different systems of governing we think we have a really good idea of what we can do for a Government."

"So do you think I could be a citizen of your country," Jono asked. "I mean once it's all set up. That would be so cool."

"Jonathan," Giles said. "If you help us setting everything up. I believe you would have earned the right to be a citizen."

"Oh wow," Jono gushed. "Thank you so much. I'm so glad I didn't go with those guys now."

"Uhm," Giles said, "Yes you're very welcome Jonathan. Where were you going?" Giles hoped that changing the subject would stop the young man's overly emotional display.

Jono stopped his face blanked out, "Oh um Warren and Andrew, the other night they saw, well we all saw Xander and the weird soldiers attacking Lowell House. Warren wanted me to go through the caves with Andrew to get whatever was down there."

"WHAT," Yelled Jack, "Tell me everything kid."

Jono looked at the much scarier old guy. "Um yeah, we saw it happen and then he wanted to send Andrew and me into the caves beneath Sunnydale. But I know about demons and vampires. I told him no way. Then I had to threaten Andrew with my magic to get them to let me go. I took all my stuff from Warren's lab and left. Oh hey, I bet I still have the video."

"Video," Jack asked. "And I thought people wouldn't pay attention, Rupert?"

"Yes," Giles said. "Normal people pay no attention. Those who know about demons are not fooled. Since Jonathan is aware of the truth, he and I assume his friends. Would not have tried to rationalize everything away. But at the same time, those who are aware do not go spreading it around."

"Ah we made a video," Jonathan said. "Of the first part of the attack, when the tank came and you were using those plasma blasters. And when Warren saw Xander teleport he started saying how we should kidnap him to learn all of his secrets."

Faith drew in a sharp breath. Willow turned on Jono. "Jono and these were your Friends?"

Jono looked down at the ground, "No not really but everyone else either moved away or died or ignored me, so I hung out with Warren and Andrew."

"Well," Willow said. "I guess I can see that, but no more mister." Willow was wagging her finger at Jono. "You will be our friend and that means no evil kidnapping guys."

"Dad," Faith said. "What about those guys? Can you do anything to make sure they can't do anything? I mean I know Xander can take care of himself and everything."

"Sure Faith," Jack said kissing her head. "Maybe I'll have Gibbs go interrogate him. After all, we have a report that he was going to try kidnapping a foreign," Jack paused. "You guys decided what you're going to be in your new country?"

Willow piped up, "We're still working on it but Jono's ideas of a nobility are pretty good, they'd be balanced by a house of Lord's and a commons and if the people didn't like the king they could vote him out."

"OK," Jack said. He was a fan of the Constitution, but he could see where it might not work for everyone. "So does that mean my daughter gets to be a princess?" Jack grinned.

"Shit," Faith said. "I don't need to be a princess."

"You know Buffy is going to want to be a princess," Xander said. "And I think it would be nice for everyone to know you're one too." Xander pulled Faith into a kiss as he finished.

"You are definitely my princess," Jack agreed. He understood what Joyce had warned him about. But he honestly didn't care Faith was his daughter.

Breaking the kiss Faith said, "If I gotta be a princess you have to be a prince," she informed Xander. "You can be my Prince Charming." Faith was smiling, her face looked young and carefree as some more of the past dropped off of her.

"Hey, Dad's only going to be an Earl," Xander protested. "I can't be outranking my Dad." Xander's statement had everyone clamoring for clarification.

Giles sighed, he knew he would have to tell everyone, but he had hoped to wait till later to explain everything. "Very well," Giles said. "Before I begin explaining. Xander, would you please call Joyce, Buffy, and Cordelia. I would rather not explain myself twice." Xander nodded as he called Cordelia, Faith called Joyce and Willow called Buffy.

Once the rest of the Scoobies had arrived Giles began explaining about how the Queen had decided that he would be elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom. When he said, that all of them would be expected to be there as well because they were his family, Buffy started to cry. She still missed her dad.

The news that they were going to LA tomorrow to be fitted for gowns at the British consul was met with excitement over all. Along with Joyce teasing Giles about expecting a woman to drop everything at a moment's notice. Xander complained about having to wear a suit.

"Hey Dad," Xander said. "This is supposed to be for friends and family right?"

Giles nodded, what was Xander going on about.

Turning to Jack, "You'd better make sure Sam, goes with the girls tomorrow. The rest of the team can be with me, Dad and Jono getting fitted for suits."

Jack was surprised by Xander's desire to include SG-1, "Kid as a military officer I have my dress uniform and so does Carter."

"Yeah, but if you go as Colonel O'Neill you can't see her in an incredible dress." Xander had a point Jack thought. "And would you want to deprive her of that opportunity?" Jack couldn't find a good argument against what Xander had said.

Jono had to ask, "You're joking right?" When everyone looked at him, "About me going too. You were joking, right?"

"Jono," Xander began. "If you're going to join the Scoobies it's an all the way deal. We don't leave anyone on the outside."

"Amy!" Willow cried. "We've forgotten about Amy."

"Well we try not to," Xander clarified, before explaining Amy's situation. Willow managed to pull Giles away for the rest of the night. Together with Tara the three witches worked on a spell to help reverse Amy's condition. Because Giles had done it before, during the love spell fiasco it actually did not take that long.

That night Jono turned over the video that the former Trio had made to Jack. He was also there to watch as Amy Madison became human again. No one had thought about the fact that she would be naked, so he was also able to appreciate her very fit form. He found himself wondering if she liked short guys.

Tara looked over Amy's aura she could see the girl was messed up. Her time as a rat and her dabbling in magic had left stains. But underneath it all she had potential. "Dad," Tara said. "We need to see about doing some cleansing ceremonies for Amy, Cordy, and Jono. They've all been exposed to things that could hurt them. When can we do one?"

Giles sighed, Tara was right and putting it off would not help. "Well, it would depend on where we would do them? I don't know if Xander could orb us back to heaven. And if he can't, it would need to be someplace that is filled with clean natural energy. A natural spring would probably work best. If it was a hot spring it would actually be even better as we would have the four elements combined."

Everyone turned to Xander, "What?" he asked looking at himself.

"Well," Buffy demanded. "Can you get back to heaven?"

"Oh," Xander looked down, "Ah no, I tried the other day. And it was like everything was fuzzy. I tried to orb and just ended up bouncing off of something. I um actually landed um somewhere."

"Where did you land?" A suspicious Buffy asked.

"Ah someplace look it's not really important." Xander tried to brush off this line of questioning.

"Where did you land dweeb?" Now Cordelia was joining in.

"Look," Xander said. All the women were looking at him now. "Ok it was somewhere I think in Japan. OK, no big deal." Please just drop it he prayed.

"Where in Japan, Xander," Giles asked.

"Look I don't know OK," an exasperated Xander said. "I just know I'm waking up in hot water surrounded by naked Japanese people. OK!" Everyone started to laugh.

"Only you Xander," Tara said. "You bounce off of Heaven and orb in on naked people. I really think you need to stop doing that." Xander glared at his sister, it really wasn't his fault.

Willow spoke up, "OK I've been researching the cleansing rituals." Everyone was now looking at her, asking why. "Well because Cordy needed it, and I wanted to make sure she was alright."

Cordelia got a tear in her eyes. "You did that for me?"

"Well yeah," Willow said. "I mean you're family like Buffy said. And I don't want some skanky goddess to kill you." Cordelia didn't know what to say to that. "But I have a ritual like what we did, but a little different, I couldn't find the one we did in any books. But if we use this one that I think will work it should be close." Pulling out a paper, Willow passed it to Giles.

After reading the ritual Giles said, "Excellent work Willow. I think it might do the job, however, I would like to do it at dawn tomorrow. If we can find a place. Xander could orb us where we need to go. Although I must insist that he leave until we are done. I would rather not risk any more unknown pregnancies." Everyone except Jono and Amy laughed. They promised to explain later.

Willow was able to find a hot spring in California that should work and Xander agreed to Orb everyone just before Dawn. Then come back for them when they called. Joyce suggested that the three of them use the robes provided by the Elder Xander. Even if nothing else they were created in Heaven and that might affect the ritual. Cordelia was just happy she wouldn't have to be naked for the thing. Xander gave Jono, his robe, Faith gave her's to Cordelia and Joyce provided Amy with hers.

The next morning after the ritual was completed, all three felt cleaner than they ever had. Giles had decided they needed the warding crystal with them just in case Cordelia's stalker tried anything. They were all pleased when they saw nothing happen.

In the higher realms the being known as Jasmine was angry. Something had happened that snapped her connection to the mother. What's more, her sight was blocked. She had tried watching Cordelia and couldn't see her. She summoned Skip to her. "Find her!" she ordered him. When he asked how if she couldn't she beat him unconscious. When Skip finally came to he decided it might be a good time to take a vacation, somewhere far away where he wouldn't be easy to find. Arashmaharr had a few fun places and some of those Justice Demons were real party animals.

At the Summers house, everyone was busy getting ready for the day. They had decided to drive to the British Embassy. Sam had been shocked when Jack said she was going. He had told her they had been invited in a non-military capacity so they would both be in civilian dress.

Once the entire group arrived the women were taken to a separate area. They were shocked to see the dresses waiting for them. Even more amazing were the designers who were there. It seemed Lord Reginald had neglected to tell Giles that the Queen had asked for special treatment for the woman. There would be a formal dinner with the Queen after the ceremony. So it was decided that they would all be paired up for the ceremony. Buffy and Teal'c, Sam and Jack, Jono and Amy, and Cordelia and Daniel, Willow and Tara, Faith and Xander, with Giles escorting Joyce.

Sam and Faith both felt almost the same about the dresses, normally they could have cared less. But these dresses were works of art. The designers took the group as a challenge, they knew that if their designs were used at a ceremony involving royalty, it would be all over the front page of the papers. They had no idea that most people probably wouldn't even know what had happened, due to security around the event.

The ceremony was scheduled for the following week. So all of the designers felt they would have plenty of time to prepare everything. The Scoobies were all enjoying the next several days where the world was not trying to kill them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Grd; When I started writing everything and decided where in the Angel timeline I was, I honestly thought the that episode hadn't happened yet. So even though it would have happened. It will be written. I already have my base outline ready for it.

PikaMew1288; Honestly while WR&H are bad, Cordelia just hasn't thought about them too much yet. They will be coming into more of the story, especially since they have clients like Senator Kinsey.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 10

Bragi was looking over the formidable task he had been given by Thor. Teaching the Furlings what they knew of Furling technology and Asgard Technology **sounded** like a good idea. The reality was that the education of the Furlings was so far below what Bragi considered the minimum requirements, he honestly didn't know where to start.

It was while talking to Eir and Loki that they gave him an idea to talk with everyone at once to see if they had any ideas that could be used to do the job that the High Council had given him. So Bragi arranged for the Furlings, SG-1, and the Tok'ra to meet with himself, Loki, and Eir.

Once everyone had been seated, Bragi began, "I have asked you here, because as you know, the Asgard High Council has given me the task of educating the Furlings." Bragi paused. "The problem is that currently, their base knowledge is so far below the standards of what the Asgard consider education that it would take decades to simply bring them up to where they can truly start to understand our science."

Everyone was stunned at Bragi's statement. They had known that compared to the Asgard they were primitive, but no one had thought that they were that far behind.

"Does this mean you won't be teaching us?" Willow asked. She was seeing all of their dreams come crashing down. Sam was also seeing the loss of all the new technology they had been salivating over.

"No," Bragi said. "After discussing it with Eir and Loki, we decided to bring you together to try and find a way to overcome the problem."

There was a general sigh of relief from all the humans and the Furlings. "So you're wanting to brainstorm the problem?" Xander asked.

"What is a 'brainstorm'?" Loki asked.

"It means we all come together and throw out ideas to see if something new can be thought up," Sam said. "It actually is very effective at coming up with new ideas on how to solve problems."

"That is exactly what we hope to accomplish," Bragi said.

"Well what about sleep teaching," Xander said. "You know in sci-fi they usually have some kind of hypno-pod that can teach you while you sleep. Can we do something like that?"

"Xander," Willow cried in protest, "You just want to sleep through school!"

"Well yeah," Xander admitted, "I mean it worked for me all during High School."

"I'm sorry but your brains are not designed where that would be effective," Eir said. "Anything that was taught that way would at best only help you to grasp the concepts a little bit easier."

"So for an effective technique, it wouldn't be the best solution," Sam said. "But it might help to cut down the overall time it takes to teach them what they need to know."

Jack spoke up; he thought the answer was obvious. "What about what happened to me when the library of the Ancients was downloaded into my brain? Could you do something like that?"

"Jack, that almost killed you," Daniel pointed out.

"Well yeah," Jack said. "But we're not talking about downloading everything to them. Just the basics they would need. Plus since none of them are pure human, would their brains react differently? And since the Asgard said I was an advanced human, they're probably more advanced than me."

Bragi, Loki, and Eir were looking at each other. They began talking rapidly in the Asgard language. They took almost five minutes to talk about Jack's idea. "Colonel O'Neill, we believe this might be possible. We will need to investigate how much knowledge could be safely transferred directly to the Furlings brains without causing damage. But Loki is confident that they could at the very least receive the basics of our sciences. I believe you would call it the equivalent of a High School education. And Eir has said she will review all of Loki's work to make sure that there are no additional dangers."

Everyone knew why Loki acted the way he did but it was still comforting to know that Eir would be supervising his work. Selmak added, " **If the Tok'ra can be of assistance I would be happy to help with this project**." 

Giles was feeling rather nervous. Tomorrow everyone would be going to England, where his entire family would watch as the Queen created him a peer of Great Britain. He had been talking to his Mother and Father, they were excited to meet their grandchildren. Well, his Mother was excited, his Father had grudgingly admitted that he wasn't terribly disappointed in him anymore. He had hoped his Father would show more approval on learning that the Queen was making him an Earl. His Father had been very British in his response, he had gotten a "Good show, Son." from him. Still, if his Father tried to do that with either of his children he would have a very Ripper response for him. It was one thing to face his Father's disapproval but he would be damned if he would allow the man to do that to either Tara or Xander. And God helps him if he said something to Joyce.

Giles had been spending more time with Joyce. He had already known she was a remarkable woman, and he had fond memories of their night together, even if it was caused by the cursed candy. Giles had also noticed that ever since they were empowered Joyce was looking much younger. He thought if most people had to guess her age they would think she was in her late twenties to very early thirties. He had noticed a similar effect in himself as well.

But he would not be complaining about that anytime soon. He knew he wasn't as old as the children liked to think he was, but he had noticed the aches and pains that came with age starting to manifest themselves. Those pains had disappeared after the cleansing ceremony that Xander performed.

Giles heard a knock on his door. "Rupert, are you still up?" Joyce called. Giles went to open his door, Joyce was standing there in a robe holding a tray with a kettle on it. "I thought you might have trouble sleeping tonight, so I made some chamomile tea," she said as she entered his room. "It always helps me sleep when I'm nervous."

"Thank you, Joyce," Giles said, "That was quite considerate of you. Please join me for a cup?" Serving the tea the two sat down and began talking. Giles explained his worries about his parents and his fear that he really was not worthy of being an Earl.

"Rupert," Joyce said. "You are a good man, you've stood by Buffy through everything. Even when it would have been easier to walk away you stayed. You took all of the children into your heart and I couldn't think of anyone who is more deserving of being called a nobleman."

"Thank you, Joyce," Giles paused. "I don't know quite what to say to that. I have always valued your opinion. And your sheer determination to protect the children even when you didn't know what you were protecting them from."

"Rupert," Joyce said with a coy smile, "Are you trying to turn my head?"

"I do not believe stating the truth could in any way do that," Giles said with a smile. Joyce placed her teacup down, on the side table and gently took his from his hands.

"Well trying or not you've certainly garnered my attention," she said. Joyce leaned in and kissed him. A soft gentle kiss that promised much more was available for the taking. Giles found himself responding. Taking Joyce into his arms he kissed her passionately. Joyce let her robe fall to the ground, showing that it was all she was wearing. "If you're still not tired, I can think of something we can do to help burn off your nervous energy," she said.

"I believe that is a marvelous Idea," Giles said as he embraced the beautiful, naked goddess before him. 

The next morning Xander still felt tired. He hadn't slept that well at all. Probably nerves, he thought. When his alarm went off, he got up and went into the bathroom that he and Giles shared. It was almost two am but they would all be orbing to England soon and there it was past ten in the morning. After taking a quick shower he went to wake up his Dad.

Opening the shared bathroom door, he turned on the light saying, "Dad time to get up so that we can get ready to go." Xander was shocked, Joyce and his Dad were in bed together. And while the covers covered them he could tell they hadn't been talking last night.

"Sorry," He yelled as he turned around.

"Xander," Joyce said, "The only thing to apologize for is not knocking. In the future please make sure that you knock first. I would hate for you to walk in at an inopportune time." Joyce reached down to the ground and put on her robe. Now please help me get the girls up. Also, I believe Jono and the rest of SG-1 should be here soon. And you'll have to go pick up Tara and Willow, from their dorm room."

"Sure thing," Xander said, a goofy grin on his face. "Can I just say I'm really happy if you both decided this is a long term thing. Not that there is any problem if it's just a one-time thing. But I think you'd be great together."

"Thank you, Xander," Giles said. "Now please leave so that we may get dressed." Xander hurriedly left the two alone. Grinning the whole time he went to wake up Buffy and Faith. Giles turned to Joyce, "I do hope this is not a one-time thing Joyce," Giles said. "I find I quite enjoy our time together and would be loathe to part with it."

"Oh," Joyce said with a smile. "I think you have some very persuasive arguments to keep me coming back. I don't think I've slept that well since the night of the band candy. You certainly know how to keep a woman satisfied, Rupert. But I should warn you when I was pregnant with Buffy I was almost insatiable. So if this pregnancy is the same, I will require your undivided attention possibly multiple times a day."

Giles gulped at that, "Very well, Joyce," Giles said as he gently kissed her. "I shall have to endeavor to keep you satisfied. I would be loathe to disappoint you." 

Both Buffy and Faith were woken up by an entirely too cheerful Xander. Faith just groused at him. While Buffy threw a pillow at him. "How can you be so cheerful," Buffy complained. "It's unnatural."

"No real reason, Buffster," Xander said. "You might want to grab some coffee, I set the timer last night so there's a fresh pot downstairs."

Buffy mumbled her thanks and headed downstairs. She had just taken her first drink of coffee when the door to the basement opened. "Morning Giles," Buffy said. Taking another drink, "Xander made coffee."

"Morning Buffy," Joyce said. "Please save me a cup while I go get showered and changed."

Spitting out her coffee, Buffy screamed," **MOM**." She could tell her Mom had the look. And she had just come up from the basement. Wearing only a robe.

"Buffy," Joyce said. "I have excellent hearing there's no need to shout. Now, what is the matter?"

"You, you're not wearing anything," Buffy sputtered, "And you-you were downstairs all night."

Joyce raised an eyebrow, "And your point is, Buffy?"

Faith had run downstairs at hearing Buffy cry out. Xander was watching everything from the living room, drinking his own coffee.

"But you," Buffy said, "You're Mom."

Giles came up the stairs, still wet from a very quick shower, hearing the last part of Buffy's statement. Although he had heard her cry out. "Really Buffy," Giles said, "Your Mother is so much more than just a Mum. She is a beautiful, desirable, intelligent woman. And you should be old enough to recognize that."

"Thank you, Rupert," Joyce said, leaning in she kissed him."Now I need to go get showered, last night was very...intense, I'll be down after my shower. Make sure to save some coffee for me."

"Ewww, Mom," Buffy protested. "And Giles how could you? With my Mom!"

"Way to go, Mom," Faith proclaimed. She hugged Joyce, quickly letting her go, "But yeah you definitely need a shower." Joyce laughed as she headed up the stairs.

Giles turned to Buffy, "I believe it was very simple, Buffy. Quite natural even, if however, you think you need a refresher course in how it works, I would ask you to ask your Mum, she is very knowledgeable, and highly skilled, in how everything works."

"Ewww," Buffy said again. "That's it, I'm going to go shower and try to wash my brain!" Turning to Xander, "And I better be showering **ALONE**!"

"Hey," Xander protested.

Giles, and Faith all laughed. "Xander, please call Willow and Tara, see if they are ready to go," Giles said.

"Sure thing Dad," Xander replied. Xander called Willow, and once he was told it was safe to come over he orbed to pick up the girls. A knock on the door revealed that SG-1 and Jono had arrived. Jono had been staying at the base since everything with Warren was still going on.

Opening the door, Faith stepped aside letting them all enter.

Xander arrived at Willow and Tara's room, The two girls, along with Amy and Cordelia were waiting for him. Amy and Cordelia had been using Buffy and Willow's dorm room until something better could be worked out. "Girls," Xander said. "You're never going to guess what happened last night."

Tara looked at him, "Dad and Joyce finally slept together?"

"What," Willow said.

"No fair," Xander pouted, "How did you know that?"

"Their aura's have been getting more and more in sync. It was almost inevitable that they would get together at some point," Tara explained. "So did Buffy blow a fuse when she found out?"

"Oh yeah," Xander nodded. "Big time with the 'Ewww' and the 'Giles how could you?' It was better than Saturday morning cartoons!"

"But it's so great that Giles and Joyce are getting together," Willow said. "And Buffy should be happy not going 'Ewww.' Right?"

"I think it's nice that they are getting together," Amy said.

"I know," Cordelia added, "I mean Joyce has always been a class act, and Giles is looking really good, for an older guy."

"Well come on girls," Xander said. "The Xander express is ready to go." All four girls grabbed on to Xander as he orbed them back to the Summers house.

Everyone, except Joyce, was in either the kitchen or the living room. Jack had ordered pastries be ready for him, at one thirty in the morning. He knew that the base chefs were most likely cursing his name. But he was willing to deal with their ire as long as they had hot, fresh pastries.

All of SG-1 had quickly picked up on the fact that Joyce and Giles were moving forward in a relationship. Jack had quietly congratulated Rupert. "She's a great woman," Jack said, "And those are hard to find. Don't let anything screw it up."

Giles for his part, thanked Jack. "I shall do everything in my power to make sure that nothing comes between us," he promised.

When Xander returned, everyone was talking and eating as Joyce came downstairs, Teal'c immediately stood, "Giles and Joyce, I wish you well," the big man said.

Joyce smiled and said,, "Thank you, Teal'c." Everyone else who had just heard the news added on their congratulations. Xander began lining people up to orb them to England. Within ten minutes the Summers house was empty. 

Arriving in the Belgian Suite, which had been set aside for their use, the entire group was quickly separated. The women were taken in hand by a very professional staff that would be preparing them for the ceremony. The men were given a bit more time as they would not be requiring as much work. Giles had already read over the ceremony, but the Queen's Seneschal was going over it one last time with Giles.

There was a knock on the door; when it was opened it was revealed to be Giles's father.

"Rupert," Giles senior said. "You're looking well."

"Thank you, Father," Giles replied. "I'm very pleased you came."

Giles senior looked at his son, "Rupert, I may have, at times been disappointed in your behavior. But that was in the past, you recognize your errors and sought to make a difference. No man is perfect, but all of us can try to be better. I want you to know I am proud of you."

Giles could tell his Father was very uncomfortable with his speech. "Thank you, Father," he said, then smiling at the man, "Did Mum make you say that?"

Giles senior laughed. "She may have pointed out where I have been too harsh with you. And, as a dutiful husband I listened to my very wise wife. Something I hope you will one day understand," Giles senior paused. "However, the words were my own, your Mum just encouraged me to share them with you." Turning to look at the room he said, "Now where is my grandson?"

Giles smiled, "Right over there Father," he said as he pointed out Xander.

"Well come on," Giles senior said. "Introduce me to the boy."

"Of course, Father," Giles called Xander over. "Xander, I would like to introduce you to my Father, Edmund Laurence Giles, your Grandfather. Father, may I present my son Alexander Lavelle Giles."

"Humph," Giles senior said, "I can see a bit of you in him, Rupert."

"Ah, hi," Xander said nervously. Looking at Giles he asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

Giles senior laughed, "Really boy, I promise you I only bark, it's a Father's duty to be hard on their sons. But since I am your Grandfather, I believe we can do away with that part. As for what you're supposed to do, I believe a hug would be appropriate." Giles senior had a smile on his face as Xander hugged him.

"Don't think this will get you out of trouble with your Mum," Giles senior said. "She's a bit put out to find that she has lost so much time with the grands."

"Oh dear," Giles said, "Perhaps we could arrange for you and Mum to come visit us at some point."

"Rupert, I love you, you're my son," Giles senior said. "But even with two Slayers there, I'm not taking your Mum to the Hellmouth."

"Yes, well we shall have to figure something out then," Giles promised. 

In the other room, a slightly similar meeting was taking place. Giles mother had entered and immediately looked around. She had focused on Buffy and Tara for a moment, then marched over to Tara. Reaching her side she said, "Oh, I think you'll do very well."

"Uhm," Tara said. "Thank you? But I'll do very well for what?"

"As a granddaughter, of course," Giles mother said. "Now I'm Rupert's Mum, so as your Gran, I believe I am owed several years worth of hugs and kisses from my grandbabies."

Tara smiled and carefully hugged the older woman, "uh, Hi grandma?"

"Well hello to you too, Tara," The woman said with a twinkle in her eye. "Now I know we're going to be busy today, but I will force Rupert to make time in the near future, to bring you and your brother to visit."

"Ah, OK," Tara said. She didn't really know what to make of this woman. She seemed to have a drive in her that was almost like a force of nature. But looking at her Aura she could tell this was a very loving woman. Tara smiled at her, "I think I'd like that Grandma."

The woman smiled at her as one of the stylists grabbed her to begin getting her ready. 

Quentin Travers was not in a good mood. Last night he had received notice that the Queen required his presence today. There was to be a formal ceremony of some kind at the palace, and he was required to be there as a representative of the Watcher's Council.

"Doesn't that blasted woman know how busy I am," Quentin muttered. The entire council had been trying to establish the identity of the newest Slayer since DeSilva had died. So far something had been blocking every attempt they made to find her. Quentin's fellow Council members were getting worried that there was something working against the Council, and as Council head, he was expected to solve the problem.

It was early afternoon when Quentin arrived at Buckingham palace. He was escorted into the palace's Ballroom, where he saw a rather large gathering of people. He had been told to be there promptly at half past noon. So as Quentin was forced to wait, the ballroom quickly filled up. He was watching as most of the Royal Family entered and so he missed seeing Giles' party entering the room.

Even having met Mrs. Summers and her daughter, he did not recognize them as the party was escorted to the front of the room. The ladies in that group looked nothing like the American tarts, he had dealt with, so of course, he didn't recognize them.

Everyone stood to attention as Her Majesty entered the room. As the queen sat in the on a chair behind the throne dais, the lord Seneschal stood to speak, "My Lords, and Ladies, honored guests, Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of this Realm and of Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. Has summoned you here today to bear witness. On this day the thirty-first of January, in the two-thousandth year since the coming of our Lord, Her most Royal Majesty has seen fit to invest a new Lord of the Realm." There was a pause as the gathered crowd realized why they were here. "Rupert Edmund Giles, son of Edmund Laurence Giles, Her Majesty requires your presence."

Giles entered the room and walked to the front. "I Rupert Edmund Giles, am here, I present myself following the command of Her Majesty, the Queen."

Quentin Travers was incensed. The sheer gall of it: that Rupert Giles, a poor excuse for a watcher, was being honored today. And he was being forced to attend and witness it.

Her Majesty rose as Giles knelt before her, "Rupert son of Edmund, We are aware of the valiant work you have done. Not only have you sought to defend Our Realm alone, but the world as a whole has benefited by your tireless pursuit of your duty. Therefore on this day, We would create you, Lord Rupert of Kent, Earl of Kent, will you swear fealty to Us as the Earl of Kent?"

"I will, Your Majesty," Giles said. "I Rupert Edmund Giles son of Edmund Laurence Giles in my person of the Earl of Kent, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her heirs, and successors, according to law. So help me God."

Her Majesty nodded, "We accept your Oath Lord Rupert of Kent. As a sign of Our favor We give you these gifts." Two pages came out bearing two boxes. "First. this sword, that you may continue to defend the right. Bear it well, let no dishonor stain its blade. Second, as the Earldom of Kent has long fallen into disuse, We have decided to gift you with certain entailments that were prior owned by the Crown. We acknowledge your work as a scholar and give to you the lands entailed to the Watchers' Council, with all rights and privileges owed. We are assured that you will continue to place the knowledge the Watchers have guarded for the Crown to excellent use. We also gift to you an estate in Cotswold; many have found it to be a place of quiet relaxation and peace. We hope that you and your heirs will continue to find it so. Now arise Lord Rupert of Kent. We would ask that you present your Family to Us."

Quentin was beside himself; that tart, she had just given the rights to all of the buildings owned by the council to Rupert Giles. While it was true that the buildings had been granted to the Council by Henry the First. It was long understood they belonged to the Council, not to the Crown. Quentin knew he needed to leave. He had to immediately see about removing the library and artifacts from the Council headquarters. However there was no way he could leave at this time; someone had maneuvered him to make sure he would be stuck at this farce for the entire day.

Rupert stood up, "Thank you, Your Majesty. Allow me to present my parents. My father Edmund Laurence Giles, and my mother Mary Catherine Giles." Both of Giles' parents presented themselves to the queen.

"We believe that all parents are proud of their children," Her Majesty said. "However, know that you have exceptional reason to be proud of your son." Both of Giles's parents thanked Her Majesty for the kind words.

"I would also like to present to you my son and heir, Alexander Lavelle Giles, accompanied by Faith Arlene Summers-O'Neill" Girls paused "And my daughter Tolerance Tara Giles-Rosenberg, accompanied by her wife Willow Danielle Rosenberg-Giles" The presentation of Tara and her wife actually caused more of a murmur than anything else. However, both Tara and Willow held their heads high as they curtsied to the Queen. Xander bowed and Faith curtsied; both of them had practiced making sure that they would not screw this up for Giles.

"We are pleased to acknowledge your family," Queen Elizabeth said. "It is truly God's greatest gift to mankind, the ability to see your children grow and prosper. We would invite you and your party to meet with us at the conclusion of this ceremony that we might be introduced to the remaining members of your party."

The Senchal pounded his staff on the floor, "Let all present bear faithful witness from this day forth to what has occurred. To celebrate and commemorate this event her Majesty requires your continued presence at a feast, to begin in two hours time, to be given in Lord Kent's honor." Since the invitations sent out by Her Majesty had indicated that the entire day and most of the night would be reserved for Her Majesty's purpose no one was surprised at the announcement. As Her Majesty left the room, the Royal family followed. They were then followed by the Giles party. 

Everyone followed the pages into the music room. Once inside, the doors were closed and Queen Elizabeth addressed the group. "I know that many times we British are known for our formality. But at this time I would ask you to lay it aside. We are fully aware of what you have done to preserve our world from threats both Demon and Alien in nature. Therefore I would ask that in private, you address me as Elizabeth, or if you can not bring yourself to that, at the most Ma'am."

The Seneschal almost had a heart attack. Such informality was never done outside of the royal Family. Yet here was Her Majesty extending this incredible privilege to these people.

Joyce stepped forward and curtsied, "Thank you, Elizabeth, But I am afraid we will have to insist that you return the honor, you've given us by addressing us by our first names as well."

The Queen smiled at Joyce. There were times when it was a pleasure to lay one's duty to the side, before having to take it up again. "I would be very happy to do so, Joyce," she said with a smile.

The group broke up and began mingling. The younger members of the Scoobies were talking with the grandchildren and nieces of Elizabeth, while the older members of the group chatted with Her Majesty and Prince Philip along with the other members of the Royal family.

Giles felt he needed to do two things, "Elizabeth, I would like to present to you Joyce Elaine Summers, the soon to be Mother of our Daughter."

The Queen looked at Giles; she hadn't been aware of the fact that Joyce was pregnant. "As I said before, It's is a pleasure to meet you, Joyce, and may I congratulate you both on the upcoming birth of your daughter."

'Thank you, Elizabeth," Joyce said. "It was unexpected, but not unwelcomed."

"Thank you, Elizabeth, for your gifts," Giles said. "But why did you give me the lands used by the Watchers?"

"Since the Second World War, I have been aware of the Council and what they do," Elizabeth stated. "Whilst I understand the importance of the Slayer and the fight. I have been sickened by the cavalier and atrocious manner which the Watchers' Council have treated not just the young girls called to be Slayers, but the potentials that are never called. I have worked quietly behind the scenes to ensure that those young women who were never called were given the support they needed, once the Council turned them out."

Elizabeth paused, "With the changes that have begun with you and your family, I believe now is the time that we can remove those in power over the Watchers. I ordered Quentin Travers to attend today, and whilst the ceremony was taking place, members of the Royal Regiment were busy securing the buildings used by the Council." Elizabeth laughed, "In fact, knowing what a pretentious fool Quentin Travers is, I ordered that special attention be placed on him during the ceremony. I am looking forward to watching it."

Joyce drew in a sharp breath, "Elizabeth," she said, "You must share that with us! That man is the most irritating, stuck up pig I have ever had the misfortune to meet. You have to let us see that film."

"If you insist, Joyce," Elizabeth said. Quickly calling over one of the pages, she sent him to arrange the showing. "I believe we have just enough time before our next engagement to watch this."

The page quickly returned with a projector that was placed facing a wall. A portable screen was put in front of the wall and the film made less than an hour before was shown. Everyone who knew Quentin Travers laughed as they watched his reactions. From the moment Giles was called before the Queen, his face was getting red, he looked like he had eaten something that definitely didn't agree with him. But everyone would agree that the very best moment was when Elizabeth announced that she was giving Giles the lands used by the Watchers' Council and the Cotswold retreat.

"What color purple is that?" Xander asked.

"I believe that would be a Magenta," Elizabeth replied. "I am amazed that the man did not fall over dead from the shock." Elizabeth was finding it hard not to giggle like a schoolgirl. As she stood to begin to get ready for the upcoming ceremony she leaned heavily on Philip.

"Are you alright, Elizabeth?" Joyce asked.

"Yes, Joyce," Elizabeth said. "I'm quite healthy for my age, it is just my age that is not as healthy."

Joyce looked at Elizabeth, "Elizabeth, if it would be alright with you, I would like to give you and Philip a gift."

Both the royal pair looked at Joyce. "What gift would you like to give us?" Philip asked.

"As you should know, Furlings have several Talents, these gifts can do amazing things. So far my talent is the gift of healing. And while it won't make you appear young again I have it on very good authority that physically it reduces almost all the signs of aging. If it would be alright with you both I would like to use my gift on you."

Elizabeth was speechless, "Joyce, I hadn't even considered that you might use your gift in such a fashion. But if you truly wish to do so; both Philip and I would gratefully accept." Joyce smiled as a green glow enveloped her hands she reached out and first took Elizabeth's hands in her own. Then she took Philip's hands. The glow spread from Joyce's hands and briefly engulfed the two royals. When it died down both of them looked refreshed.

"Now you may find you're a bit hungrier than normal," Joyce said. "Don't be alarmed by that. It's just your bodies needing more nutrition than what you might be used to."

"Thank you, Joyce," Philip said with a smile. "I must admit I feel positively spry. And my knee has completely lost its customary ache."

"Yes, it would, in fact both of you should also notice that your need for glasses will quickly fade away, over the next day or so," Joyce said. 

Everyone left for the banquet. Joyce and Rupert were seated just to the right of Her Majesty and Prince Charles. Following them, it was alternately a member of the Royal family or a member of the Giles party. Jack had been stunned since seeing Sam come out of the room earlier today. She looked amazing. Even with her hair shorter than most of the women in the room, he was sure she was the most beautiful woman in the room, although it was a close call with how Faith looked. His daughter was stunning in her own way.

As the evening wore on everyone had eaten the full eleven-course meal, All of the younger Scoobies were very grateful to Lord Reginald that he had arranged for them to be given etiquette lessons for the occasion.

Once the meal was over it was already six in the afternoon. Everyone retired to various rooms for coffee and handmade petits fours in the State Rooms. Giles was escorting Joyce the entire evening, and both of them had the distinct pleasure of Quentin Travers approaching them.

"Giles," Quentin snarled, "I don't know what spell you used to cause this farce, but rest assured the Council will reverse it! This will not stand, and if you dare come near the Council buildings I will see that you are shot."

Several of the men in the room comprised the Queen's security; as such, they heard the threats being issued by Quentin Travers. Three men were ordered to take him into custody.

Before they got there Joyce and Giles both had the pleasure of addressing Travers. "Mr. Travers," Joyce began, "I remember at our last meeting, the one on my daughter's birthday how much you stressed the importance of traditions and people knowing their places. As such you should know that you are required to address Rupert as Lord Kent, until such time as he allows you to use another name."

"Quentin," Giles said. "There is no spell to reverse. However, as such a firm follower of tradition, I am sure you are aware of the oath's all Watchers swear, to defend against the darkness and uphold the rule of Her Majesty. Even our Watchers born in other countries are required to swear that oath. A long-standing tradition, since the rule of King Henry the First. And as you are aware there is also a mystical component of our oath. As I have been legally appointed by Her Majesty, your oath's now devolved to me. You are dangerously close to breaking your oath. I suggest you consider your course of action with great care. The penalties for an oath breaker are quite severe."

"I will see you dead," Quentin said. "You and your tart of a Slayer. Before I am through all of you and your families will be dead."

Joyce reached back and slapped Quentin, "Don't you ever call my daughter a tart again," she said. Giles looked like he was getting ready to lay Quentin out, fortunately for Quentin that was when the security detail sent by the palace staff arrived.

Quentin found himself on the floor of the State Room. A heavy weight was on his back, as one of the security officers pinned him to the ground. The guards then handcuffed him and marched him out of the room as he shouted, "How dare you! Do you know who I am?" Paparazzi who had been gathering for hours managed to get several unflattering photos of Quentin as he was escorted out of the Palace.

"I dare say that Quentin will not be enjoying the rest of his day," Giles said as Joyce quietly laughed.

Buffy was standing next to Teal'c; her evening had been very enjoyable. Teal'c while not very talkative had been a perfect gentleman. Paying just the right amount of attention to her, while not making her feel that he was bothered by escorting her. " _If only I could find someone my age as nice as Teal'c is_ ," Buffy thought.

Seeing her Mom slap Travers and then the palace security taking him down followed by perp walking him out the door. Buffy let out a happy laugh, "That was most enjoyable to watch," Teal'c said. "I believe that it will become a fond memory for you for years to come."

Buffy nodded and latched onto Teal'c arm, "Oh, I think so, in fact, I'm going to ask Giles if he can get a recording of it from Her Majesty. Now if we can just arrange for something like that to happen to Kinsey we could have a matched set."

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "I believe if that were to occur, the entire SGC would have to be closed in celebration." Buffy laughed at Teal'c joke, he had a very dry sense of humor, but it was a good one.

The party ended and the guests left. The press had been working overtime to try and get shots of the dignitaries. Only the palace staff were able to get shots of the Giles party, since they neither came nor left through the normal entrances. When the press release was put out by the Palace, it set off a media storm. Who was Lord Rupert? Why was he here escorting an American Divorcee and what about his children and hers? There were several very flattering photos of all of them. Most of the younger girls thought Lord Alexander was very handsome, and everyone could agree that the women of the group were all stunningly beautiful.

Slowly some news was found. Lord Rupert Giles was a long time Member of the International Watcher's Council, which had originally been established by King Henry the First. All of the Watcher's buildings were owned personally by Her Majesty. They contained one of the greatest private collections of historical documents in the world. Her Majesty had given it all to Lord Rupert. Including an estate in Cotswold, that was often used as a retreat for the well to do.

Lord Rupert held two Doctorates in Ancient Mythology and Languages. He had been living in America for the last four years. His daughter Lady Tara Giles-Rosenberg was married to Willow Rosenberg-Giles and his son Alexander was currently seeing the daughter of Joyce Summers, the beautiful woman he had escorted during the ceremonies, and she was the daughter of a Highly Decorated American Air Force Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill. The fact that someone had gotten a hold of the brief for Project Achilles made the front pages; first in Britain, then in the rest of Europe and the United States.

There was also a rumor circulating that Joyce Summers was not originally from the United States, but that she was actually part of a hidden Royal Family. Not many gave credence to that rumor. Although one European paper managed to talk with a Dr. Hans Avram, who claimed that Joyce Summers had not only assaulted him but also had a stolen lost masterpiece in her possession which should be returned to the Dutch Government. His story claimed that she had not only assaulted him, breaking his nose, but she had had US Marines threaten to shoot him.

The story of Faith Summers was sensational: how she had been hunted by rogue scientists and fought for her life at the age of fifteen. Someone had also found out that Alexander had visited her the entire time she was in the hospital; this led to speculation about the long-term nature of their relationship. Many teen girls would sigh about how beautiful it was and compare their own boyfriends to Lord Alexander. The boyfriends never came off well in the comparison.

Because of the media circus it actually ended up causing Xander his greatest humiliation. 

It had only taken Loki and Eir five days to implement Jack's solution. Using a similar method to what the ancients had created, they had designed a device that would not only imprint a basic understanding of the Asgard language and technology but based on the scans they had of all of the Furlings, it would also imprint the Furling Language.

Today, all of the Scoobies were assembled; even Jono and Amy were there to offer their support. Neither of them had shown to be Furlings. Not to any significant degree. But Jonathan did possess a significant degree of ancient DNA. While he was not quite as advanced as Jack, he was very close. This indicated to the Asgard that the Humans were indeed evolving into the fifth race. Amy's DNA had shown that several distant ancestors were from the Nox. Since the Asgard had not been aware of any communication between human and the Nox this also caused some speculation as to when that may have happened.

"We are anticipating no problems with the procedure today," Eir said. "We have run the simulations and once complete you will most likely spend the rest of today and part of tomorrow sleeping. For this reason, we will keep you here aboard the Bautarsteinn, monitoring your life signs."

"Please recline on the beds, facing the screens," Loki said. "Once the process is started we will not be able to stop until it is complete. Do you have any questions?"

None of the Scoobies could think of anything else to ask. They all lay on their stomach facing the strange device that was below their heads.

"Begin," Bragi said. The devices moved closer to their heads and then engulfed their heads. Each of the Scoobies went rigid. As their muscles locked up, their minds were being inundated with information. The basics of all Asgard science and technology along with the Asgard spoken and written language were uploaded to their brains. Then the Furling Language was added, both its spoken and written forms. Finally, their brains were subtly adjusted so that they could recognize the new information for what it was. It the next twenty-four hours their brains would finish making connections with their new knowledge. Just as with normal learning things that were interesting to them as individuals would take precedence over other facts."

As their heads were released from the devices Eir and Loki checked their vital signs. All of them had fallen into a deep sleep that was quickly cycling through REM states. 

Xander was in the Captain's Ready Room again. Looking around he tried to find Shemp. "Shemp are you here?" he called out. Getting no answer he started looking at the reports sitting on the Captain's desk. At first, he couldn't understand them at all; then they gradually started making sense, the specifications for hyperdrives and higher math to create the hyperdrive window. It was amazing. He looked over another report; this one talked about crystal computing technology, how to form the basis for a system that used Asgardian technology. Report after reports, Xander looked at each one at least once, the one on Medical technology, he could barely understand. He quickly put it down in favor of one that dealt with the various states of matter.

"Really fascinating stuff," Q said.

Xander jumped back, "Shemp?"

"Well, who else would it be?" Q asked.

"That wasn't a yes or a no," Xander said, "Are you Shemp?"

"Oh, I love it when they learn," Q said with a smile. "Yes, Monkey Boy, at times you have called me Shemp."

"Why are you here, as Q?" Xander asked.

"Well since you're now the Captain of the Federation Starship Enterprise I found it only fitting to look like I do," Q said. "I must admit even I didn't see that coming, and I can see a lot."

"So you're not sitting back and pulling strings?" Xander asked.

"What would be the fun in that," Q said. "That's what the Powers have tried to do and look how well that worked for them. All of their plans are coming down. And they have no one but themselves to blame."

"OK, so why are you talking to me now?" Xander really wanted to know.

"Xander I'm hurt," Q said, "I thought we were friends, amigos even." Both men were now wearing outfits from the iThree Amigos/i

"OK I admit you've been a good friend to me," Xander said. "But Dad said you have to be a Chaos God of some kind, so I should be careful."

"Do you know what true Chaos is Xander?" Q asked, 'True Chaos is nothing more or less than change. It's putting energy into the system. And you my beautiful little Nexus, you have been creating so much energy. I may have given you a little push, but you took it and ran with it. The Asgard, Tok'ra, and the Jaffa are now working to help you. Do you have any idea how that is going to change things?"

Xander shook his head, "Ah, no."

"Of course, you don't," Q confirmed. "I don't even know how it's going to play out. I mean you're creating a new Nation, and it's a Federation too. You rescued Cordelia, no one made you do that. And now you're going to start teaching humans advanced technology. Oh sure without your interfering the Asgard would have given it to Jack in a few years. But it would have taken them decades to understand it."

Q wiped a small tear from his eye, "I'm so proud of you, I thought you wouldn't be up to causing so much chaos for a long time. But you got right back up and changed everything. Do you know Tara was going to die next year until you came along?"

Xander took in a deep breath. "Oh don't worry about that now. It seems the person who would have killed her, well let's just say they'll have other things on their minds. And if they had a choice they would kill you now. It's a good thing you have that healing factor, right?"

"So you just came by to say hi?" Xander asked.

"Sure," Q said. "What you think every time we talk it's going to be some Earth-shattering thing? What would be the fun in that? Nope, I just wanted to tell you what a great job you've been doing. In fact, your internal reserves have been filling back up faster than I would have thought possible. And it looks like you've grown in so many ways. Why I bet with a little bit of work you could produce double the amount of Chaos you used to. You know that might be the Furling in you. Or the Elder, or even the Whitelighter; so many names, so many possibilities."

Q got up and hugged Xander, "Keep it up kid." Q snapped his fingers, leaving Xander with a pile of reports to finish going through. 

Xander was the last one to wake up. Opening his eyes he saw everyone else was already up and talking or eating. "How long was I out of it?" he asked.

"Xander," everyone cried out.

Eir approached his side, "You took almost an hour longer to awake than the others. Both Loki and I were concerned at why our calculations were so imprecise. I am pleased to see you are awake."

Xander groaned, "I think I know what happened, Shemp decided to visit me while I was out."

"What?" Giles said, 'What did he say? What did he do?"

"I'll write about it later," Xander said. "But he basically said he just wanted to talk as friends. After all if he only came by to chat when there was big news what fun would that be. And he congratulated me on stirring up so much chaos. He said the possibilities were beautiful." 

Today was the day. Xander had gotten up in the morning knowing that today it would finally be over. He and Faith had been working on his routine for the last week. He had even gone to Hollywood, to purchase a costume. He would not be ashamed. He would show Buffy, Willow, and Tara that they should be careful when it comes to taking revenge.

Giles was driving him to Oxnard, with the recent media blitz they had to be careful, they already suspected that the press may have gotten wind of tonight's event. "Xander," Giles said, "I want you to know I'm proud of you for keeping your word. I know that what the girls are asking is not something you want to do. But you gave your word and a man should always keep his promises."

"Thanks, Dad," Xander replied. "I just wish I could have convinced them to do something else. Anything else would have been better than this."

Giles laughed, "Yes I dare say you're correct."

Getting to the club Xander was amazed the parking lot was full. He knew what business was normally like, and this had to be a packed house. As he got inside he could hear the woman inside cheering some of the performers.

Faith met him backstage. Normally she wouldn't have been allowed in the club, but it's amazing what diplomatic credentials and having your Mother with you can accomplish.

"Boytoy," she said as she kissed him, 'You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Xander said. "Where did everyone come from?"

"Well, some of the people we've been hanging out with may have heard us talking," Faith said.

Xander groaned, "Who else is out there?"

"Well, you've got Buffy, Willow, Tara, Cordelia, Mom, and Amy," Faith began listing names. "Then Sam heard about this and said something about payback for the 'Sharing the hot blonde' comment you wrote. She told Janet, so you have the female medical staff here too. Then Angela overheard, and that means that you have Bones and all the women from her team, Abby told Agent Todd, and she told all the other woman on Gibbs team. Then there are the woman from the base, Sam told Jack he would make sure that anyone female who wanted to come would get the night off. I think even a few of the female Jaffa are in the audience, oh and Anise the Tok'ra is here too."

"So basically any woman who I might know in any way is here?" Xander was starting to panic.

"Nah," Faith said, "Eir didn't come." Seeing Xander's panic Faith got close to him. "Hey no big thing, You know what to do, you're going to own that stage!" Faith kissed him, "Just remember what we practiced, and try and enjoy yourself."

Xander calmed down and changed into his outfit. He had found the perfect costume in Hollywood. If he had to do this he was going to do it his way. As he was finally ready he heard the announcer starting to speak. Faith grabbed his hand.

"Ladies," The announcer said, "I hope everyone has been enjoying their night" A loud cheer could be heard backstage. "Tonight has been a very special night, I'm told that as the result of a lost bet our next performer was pressured into giving it his all for us. Something about him learning his lesson and not going against the female of the species." Laughter rocked the club. "So tonight for one show only we have a very special guest."

The lights had dimmed, Faith gave Xander a passionate kiss as he took his place behind the curtain, she hurried out to the front and the table where her Mom and the other's were sitting.

The music started to play, _Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor_ "Ladies, give an out of this world welcome to Captain Alexander L. Giles of the Federation Starship Enterprise!" The curtain came up showing Xander in the same uniform used by Captain Kirk. Xander concentrated on the routine he and Faith had worked out. He stalked across the stage. He twirled on the poles that were there. At one point he ripped his shirt partially off and drew his phaser. He had worked with Jono to set up a glitter packet that exploded when he fired the phaser at it. From above the crowd, glitter fell down on the watching women. The phaser had been adapted so that it shot a light using a modified flashlight. The woman roared in approval. Xander lost the rest of his shirt. Bare chested he continued to dance. He could feel the energy and approval coming off the crowd.

As _Eye of the Tiger_ ended the second song began _Pure Energy by Information Society._

Now at this point, no one had realized one of the drawbacks of some of Xander's new gifts. Xander had been feeling other people's emotions for the last few weeks. And right now he was feeling a lot of lust, mixed with excitement and approval. The feedback was fantastic. Xander didn't feel nervous at all. He continued to dance removing other pieces of his uniform and tossing them out to the crowd. He lost his pants and was dancing in boxers and boots. His equipment belt still on. He moved closer to the crowd, Hands reached up to grab him, he pulled away. The woman were going nuts.

Xander reached the final part of his act ripping off the boxers he was now only in his G-string. All the woman could tell that that little piece of cloth wasn't enough to cover a very large package. The feeling of lust and desire tripled. And Xander's body responded. Xander was so lost in the routine that he never realized when his growing erection broke the G-String. It hadn't been a high-quality one, to begin with, and it was no match for the Captain's shaft. Luckily it was only the last few seconds of the show, ten to fifteen at most. Nevertheless, all the woman got to see Xander in all of his glory. As Xander assumed his final pose the lights went down to his voice saying, "Enterprise one to beam up." In the darkness, blue lights could be seen, anyone who didn't know the truth thought it was some of the best special effects they had ever seen.

Sitting at the main table Buffy, Willow, Amy, Cordy and Sam were stunned. Cordelia looked at Faith, "You weren't lying he's longer than the crystal!"

Willow and Buffy were incapable of speech. Amy turned to Faith and said, "You're a very lucky woman."

Sam nodded her head, "I'll say." She agreed.

Tara was laughing at the reactions, while the male form did nothing for her, and Xander was her brother. She still loved the shocked expressions on the girl's faces. It helped that she knew even if Willow was not a complete lesbian like she was, she knew Willow loved her.

Joyce had to ask, "Are one of you girls responsible for Xander's costume malfunction?"

Buffy shook her head, "No, we-we were going to do something right at the very end, but he...it...he came naked before then."

"Wow," Willow said, "Xander grew up."

"You can say that again," Cordelia said. "I can't believe I never knew when we were dating." The longing was evident in Cordelia's voice.

Faith just laughed, "I told you so," she said. "I've got to go backstage to Boytoy." Getting up, Faith paused and whispered in Cordelia's ear, "Remember if you want to touch, we are a package deal." Cordelia blushed at the images now in her head.

At a nearby table, Bones, Angela, and Caitlin were all sitting together. "Oh my," Angela said, "I had no idea he was so gifted."

Caitlin nodded, "He was incredible."

"And his penis size exceeded the norm for the average male by a large margin," Bones said. "I believe any woman he copulates with would be very satisfied with the experience."

"Tempi," Angela said. "Any woman who has him in her bed will be walking bow-legged the next day."

I'll say," Caitlin agreed, "But it would be so worth it." All three of the woman agreed on that point.

The female Free Jaffa who were there wondered if all Furling males were similarly endowed. As one of them said, "Where most men only have a Zat'nik'tel he carries a Ma'tok Staff" All of the women agreed. 

Backstage Xander had orbed in nude. And quickly came down from his empathic high. He started to realize how he had been dancing naked. Faith arrived as panic was starting, reaching out to him she pulled him into a deep kiss. "You did it, Xander, You left every woman except Tara and Mom a quivering pile of goo out there."

"I did," Xander asked.

"Oh, yeah," Faith said. "I don't think Willow or Buffy are capable of any real words. Cordelia is beating herself up for ever letting you go. And they're going to need a mop to clean up the drool from all of the woman. Not to mention I bet a lot of them need to change their panties."

Xander smiled, "So I did good then?"

"You were Fucking Amazing," Faith said. "And if I hadn't promised Mom, I would take you home right now and we wouldn't come out for the next week."

Xander nodded as he finished getting dressed. OK time to get out of here. As he went to go out the back door, the owner told him he'd better go out the front, a huge group of paparazzi had descended on the club. If he tried to go out the back they would have him cornered.

Leaving the club, was harder than it should have been. The paparazzi kept snapping shots at him. However, having a large group of female soldiers surrounding him helped. Major Carter on seeing what was outside had ordered all the women to help. They managed to keep the press from getting too close to him. Faith kept tight to him on his right and Cordelia was sticking to his left. When they finally left, Xander was very glad to get back to the military checkpoints, the quarantine was officially over, but only residents of Sunnydale were being allowed into Sunnydale.

Arriving at home the entire group went inside, Giles was waiting for everyone. "So I take it that is finally over?"

"Yes, Thank Shemp," Xander said. "So Willow, Buffy, Tara, are we officially even?"

The three girls all nodded, "Ah, yeah Xander," Buffy said.

Willow really hadn't said anything since seeing Xander nude.

Tara had to ask, "OK what happened up there? I mean I would have thought a costume malfunction like that would have sent you running?"

Xander looked down for a moment, "Well, I was really nervous to start, but then when I was on stage I could feel everyone. It was such a rush, the excitement, lust everything all directed at me. So I didn't even really notice when my costume malfunctioned if anything it was an even bigger rush."

"Wait," Cordelia said, "You're telling me you could feel the emotions from the crowd?"

"Well, yeah," Xander said. "I've sort of been feeling emotions from everyone. It's part of how I can orb to people. And when they're really intense I can really feel it. And the crowd in their tonight was...intense."

"Oh, God," The girls seemed to say at the same time. "So whenever someone feels something around you, you automatically know it?" Willow asked.

"Not really," Xander said, "It's sort of like background noise most of the time. You know? If I'm not trying to pay attention I can't really hear it. But when there's a bunch of people feeling the same thing then it's really hard to block out."

Xander had felt the spike of anxiety, now he felt the wave of relief coming from the girls.

Everyone said good night, Xander volunteered to orb, Cordy, Amy, Willow, and Tara home. Then everyone decided go to sleep. Joyce pulled Giles after her towards the master bedroom, since their first night together the two of them had slept with each other every night. 

The next morning Jack came over bright and early. He had all of SG-1 and Jono, with him. Waking most of the house up, a grumpy Buffy asked what was so important to come over so early.

"Let's get everyone here first," Jack said. "Something came up and I'd hate to have to repeat the news." Phones were called and Xander was sent to get the girls from the locations.

"Dad," Faith said, "This had better be really important, or I swear I'm going to make sure there's no more blue jello in the mess hall for you!"

"Faith, how could you say something so evil?" Jack asked in mock horror. "Let's bring this downstairs to the projector."

Once everyone was seated, Jack called out, "Carter you're up."

Sam hooked up her laptop. "It seems that last night had more coverage than we thought. Someone managed to install a camera in the club. It was focused on the stage. And the entire routine Xander did was captured."

"What?" Everyone cried out.

"Yup," Jack said. "What's more, the video was posted online, congratulations kid you're a star."

"The entire video?" Xander asked.

Sam nodded, "From the Announcer saying why you were dancing to you saying 'Enterprise one to beam up.' It's all online. The papers in Europe are showing some very explicit pictures. The Sun, had the headline 'Captain Kirk, move over Captain Giles is here, and he has one hell of a phaser.' Right now you've had over a million people watch the video."

"Great Zeus," Xander said.

"So far," Sam said, "Everyone is convinced you did some incredible special effects with the phaser and that you used mirrors to make it look like you were beamed up. There are some nice compliments about how you went all out to make good on a bet."

"What else are they saying?" Faith asked.

"There are a lot of comments complimenting Xander's um," Carter paused, "Complementing his equipment. In fact, quite a few have commented that you must be a very happy girl."

"Shoot me now," Xander said.

Faith just laughed, "Don't worry about it, I'll protect you from all the woman trying to get into your pants."

"What are we going to do when someone figures out the truth?" Giles asked.

"We're hoping that they'll be blown off as nutcases," Jack said.

"What about the Jeffersonian guys?" Xander asked, "I know I've sat down with Hodgins, and he's a huge conspiracy nut, do you think they could come up with a way to explain it all? A believable way?"

"That's not a bad idea, Xander," Jack said. "Once they're up we can ask what they can come up with."

"Meanwhile, we can read the comments," Faith said, with a huge smile. Xander groaned and buried his head in a pillow as everyone started reading the comments.

 _"I am the Universe's Butt Monkey"_ he thought as he had to suffer through his friends and family laughing at what people wrote about his performance. 

OK, some final words, everything I did with the ceremony for Giles becoming an Earl, completely made up. So for anyone who is actually English I hope you won't hold it against this Yank.

Yes all of the Scoobies now have the equivalent of a Asgard High School education.

And the stripper scene was actually completely inspired by Agnar. Who wrote the very first review I received on this series and pointed out a misspelling that I had multiple times. Which I was very grateful for. It was the word "BLING" which was meant to be "Blinding" However, I could see Xander stripping and using the word Bling in that scene. It did not quite work out like that but it did work out.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

I would like to thank everyone who has recommended this once again AleLupe, AnFan, awolja, Compston, Dreamweaver, grd, hpssslashfan, IronDruid, jdenx, kenchoisez, Marcel, Mordare, munzchr, Questara, Traveler, and . And the newest recommendation from Oddshot, Sorentia, and SpacedCadet.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 11

Buffy was having a fantastic morning. Since the assault on the Initiative base, she had been practicing with the Free Jaffa. And while they were not as powerful as vampires, they had a lot more skill. Teal'c had been taking extra time with her, showing her ways to improve her fighting abilities. Well her and Faith. He would make them both spar at a much slower speed than they were capable of. He corrected any flaws he saw in their forms and it was paying off. She could tell that both Faith and herself were becoming much better fighters. The moves they were using were so much smoother, it was almost effortless.

Still as great as everything was there were two dark spots on the horizon: her Dad and Angel. Buffy had been trying to figure out what to do about her Dad. She knew he needed the truth, but was worried about how he would react. After talking about it off and on for weeks she had finally decided to tell him the whole truth. Tomorrow morning would start a three day weekend for her and her Dad. Willow had agreed to come help, so that meant Tara would be there as well. Buffy had to admit she had never met anyone nicer than Tara. But having her there would mean Buffy was going to be the third wheel when they were alone, and she got enough of that at home.

Her Mom had been really great. She was trying so hard to make sure Buffy knew she was still just as important to her as before everything happened. And Faith was so different, although how much of that was because all of those mind screwing spells were gone was hard to say. Mom and Giles were really getting close to one another. Which was sweet and gross at the same time. Mom's were not supposed to be having sex, and definitely not the kind of sex Buffy could hear them having. Slayer perks could be really nice but the walls in the house were not that thick.

Her own source of loneliness was another downer. After hearing about Angel's past and hearing what Riley had to say about her, Buffy was having trouble trusting any guys. A part of her wondered if it would be easier just to switch teams, like Willow had, in order to find someone nice. Shaking her head, Buffy decided enough was enough, she was a smart, beautiful modern woman. She would be alright, and after having several sessions with Sweets, she knew she would do better. In fact, she decided that she was going to ask his advice on Angel. She still felt something for him. It wasn't the burning passion of several years ago, but it was still there, and it hurt. Heading towards the gym showers, she went to get cleaned up and then she would look for Sweets to see if he had any advice for the Angel situation.

For Oz, the last several weeks had been stressful. After hearing the news about the Disaster Area, he had worked his way back to the States. Oz had found himself at a loss at times. Reading a British paper he had seen photos of Giles and everyone in the group. Oz knew something weird was going on. Faith being Buffy's sister? Xander was Giles' son? And the blonde girl who was married to Willow? That one had almost caused him to lose his control. Oz was just grateful he was alone when he had read the story. If he had been around Willow when it came out he was afraid of what he might have done.

Still, he had left her. Oz had hoped she would be there when he finally came back. But he had to admit it wasn't fair to expect her to wait. He wondered when she decided she liked girls. Oz just hoped it wouldn't be too awkward when they saw each other again.

Oz had to admit he had laughed when he read the story about Xander and the strip club. The entertainment sites seemed to be having a field day with the story. And a small part of him did take some satisfaction from the embarrassment he knew Xander must be feeling. Because hey, Xander had broken the code when he made out with Willow. And while they may have worked through a lot of it, Oz still had a part of him that thought Xander should have suffered a bit more. Which Oz admitted wasn't really fair, but he also knew that many times emotions weren't fair.

As the bus he was on pulled into the Greyhound station, Oz got up and stretched. It really was a testament to his control that he had been able to be on a bus from Seattle to LA with so many humans without losing control of himself. As he grabbed his gear, Oz went about the next part of his master plan. Checking the Greyhound boards he saw that there was still no service to Sunnydale. Apparently even through the area was getting better, most traffic was still being controlled by the National Guard. And since Oz had sold his van, he needed a ride back to Sunnydale.

Oz started walking towards a local bus stop. Once he figured out the route he would see if Angel could help him find a way to Sunnydale. After all Cordelia had been in one of the pictures with the Scoobies so maybe she would be willing to give him a ride.

Buffy was feeling confident. She had just finished her session with Sweets, and she was confident she was ready to move forward. Pulling out her cell phone she called Willow and Tara, just to see if they wanted to head down to LA today, instead of tonight. She was hoping to have the chance to talk to Angel and clear the air some more.

Willow had agreed to go early, and Tara had been really supportive when she heard why they were going so early. Although both of them had vetoed Buffy's suggestion that she drive. Which was so unfair and not cool. Buffy knew she was a good driver, it was just everyone else that sucked at driving. After all, she wasn't the one that caused the accidents, it was always caused by something else. Heading home, Buffy just needed to finish packing and then Willow and Tara would be picking her up.

The ride home was uneventful. Buffy was sort of glad that they had the protection details assigned to them. It was weird because she really thought she didn't need them-she was a Slayer after all-but at the same time it was cool. Walking into the house she was surprised to see both Giles and her Mom were still here. "Morning Mom, Giles," Buffy said. "What are you two still doing here?"

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles said.

"Morning, honey," Joyce said. "We have been working, since we now have so many legal avenues to do things, thanks to those gifts that Shemp and Xander left us, well we have been figuring out the best ways to use them."

"Yes," Giles said. "Originally we had thought to sell the diamonds that were left over through several less than legal avenues. However now we are finalizing the details to sell a portion of them through several auctions. The fact that the diamonds we have sent to be sold have all been certified as IF or VVS1, and the smallest one is over ten karats, means we will be making quite a bit of money off of their sale."

"Ah," Buffy said, "OK, what does that mean?"

Joyce laughed, "IF means a diamond is flawless, VVS1 Very Very Slightly Included, or almost flawless. But really it means that we are going to be making a great deal of money. The auction house has already given us a down payment of one million dollars for the diamonds they will be selling. And it's less than twenty percent of what Shemp and Xander left for us."

"So does that mean I'll be getting a bigger allowance?" Buffy asked with a smile.

"I think you're a bit old for an allowance, Buffy," Joyce said with a smile. "Besides Rupert and I have also been working on setting up the family trusts, everyone will be getting an allowance based on the amount of money in the trust."

"That's great," Buffy said with a grin. "But what about the other diamonds?"

"Well," Giles said. "We felt since it appears that Willow is heading towards a monarchy style of Government, that we should create some kind of crown jewels. We were discussing who should create them, I believe your Mother has narrowed down her choices to Tiffany's, Dior and Cartier."

"Of wow," Buffy said, bouncing just a bit. "So will I get a tiara?"

Both Joyce and Giles laughed, "I think we can manage something, Buffy," Joyce said. "Now why are you home so early, I thought you'd be at the base most of the day?"

"Oh," Buffy began. "I talked with Sweets this morning and decided I wanted to head to LA early to try and talk to Angel." Both Giles and Joyce looked at each other but didn't say anything. "I want to try and clear the air a little. I mean I still feel something for him, but Sweets was explaining about _closure_ and how it can help with feelings and stuff. So I figured, I should get the closure thingy done with Angel, and maybe it would help, ya know, with everything."

Joyce crossed over to Buffy. Hugging her she said, "I think that's a great idea, Buffy. Just remember, that even if Angel's not who you thought he was, you can still find someone who will be what you need."

"Will Willow and Tara be going with you as well?" Giles asked.

"Yeah," Buffy admitted. "They should be here soon, then we are all going to LA."

"And your protection details," Joyce asked.

"Mom," Buffy whined. "I'm the Slayer, I don't need people to protect me."

"I know you're the Slayer, Buffy," Joyce said. "But they can protect you from normal people, not demons and vampires. I expect you to keep them close."

"Fine," Buffy pouted. "Still I have to finish getting ready, Willow and Tara should be here soonish." As Buffy headed upstairs Joyce decided to make a phone call.

"Good morning Jack," Joyce said. "No, everything is fine here. I just wanted to ask you for a favor." Joyce quickly explained how Buffy's plan for the weekend had changed, and asked him to make a minor change to the protection detail for Buffy, Tara, and Willow. Jack seemed happy enough to agree.

"Are you trying to play matchmaker Joyce?" Giles asked as he hugged her from behind.

"Not really," Joyce admitted. "But I think Buffy needs a man around her that she can see as decent and trustworthy. He certainly fits those categories. Besides, Buffy was very happy with spending time with him in London, and she has been talking nonstop about his training. So I thought it would be a good thing for her to be around someone who she already trusts. I don't think things will be as easy for her as she hopes."

Gilles nodded, "Yes they rarely are. Still we must hope for the best." Joyce turned around and kissed Giles, resting her head on his shoulder.

Willow had to admit, she didn't think she had ever been happier. Even with her Mom and Dad coming back into town and all the weird things that were happening with them, her life was fantastic. One of her biggest surprises had been how well both her Mom and Dad took the news that she was gay. Although her Mom had criticized her, in a nice way, about labeling herself. And she thought her Dad would have been more difficult with the whole gay thing. But he had just smiled and said if that was what made her happy, then he would leave the rest up to God.

"Tara," Willow called out. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup," Tara said coming out of the bathroom. "Hey what happened to our luggage?"

Willow smiled, "I asked one of the guards to take it all down to the car."

"You didn't?" Tara said in mock shock. "Bad Willow, you know they're supposed to just be there for our protection."

Willow nodded, "Well they were protecting us from having to lift heavy suitcases."

Tara shook her finger at Willow as she moved closer and hugged her while giving her a kiss. "You are so naughty."

Willow whispered in her ear, "Does that mean you'll have to give me a spanking?" She said as she nuzzled Tara's neck.

"Mmm," Tara said. "Maybe I'll have to think about that, you bad girl!" Tara laughed as Willow joined in. "Come on let's go get Buffy," she said. As Willow grabbed the folder she had been working on, Tara asked, "Are you going to be bringing all of that as well?"

"Yup," Willow smiled. "I figure we can go over the basic rights charter when Buffy doesn't need us. And maybe in a few more days we can have everything ready. Also, I have some notes on my laptop about the crystal project."

"Which one was that?" Tara asked as they headed outside.

"Modifying the Tok'ra crystal construction techniques," Willow said. "I think I've got the math and chemistry correct. If it works out we'll be able to build houses using the crystals, then run electrical and plumbing through them. It's been really interesting figuring out how to change the matrix to allow for those. Although once you build the house you really can't change anything about the layout. So we've been leaning towards, more outlets and possible light sources. Also, we had to figure out how to create something that could chemically bond to the crystal so that we can have doors and windows."

"Sounds like you've almost got everything done," Tara said.

"Yeah," Willow admitted. "Selmak was really surprised at the idea. But Jacob explained to her how unlike the Tok'ra, most people really like to have some privacy. But the houses are going to be really beautiful. And Jono suggested that we create crystal tunnels for the streets as well. Although calling it crystal really seems wrong. I mean sure its base structure is crystalline, but its molecular strength is fantastic. So we were thinking to create the road and sewer systems first. Using the crystals. Then we can plan housing areas and markets. The thing that is taking us the longest is each house has to be designed separately, at least if you want them to be unique. And starting from scratch with each one is a pain!"

Tara thought about it for a minute, "Why don't you get with Cordelia?"

"Cordelia," Willow asked. "What can she do?"

"Well," Tara said, "She's really taken off with the computer end of things. Maybe she could create a program that uses what you've already done and could mix and match. Make it so you didn't need to create everything from scratch. I mean that tablet she showed us the other day was great." Each of the Scoobies was working on different projects. Since the Asgard upgrade, they had been assigned projects that fit their aptitudes by Bragi.

Willow nodded, "Oh yeah, Cordelia said she based it off of the Asgard crystal technology, using that for a processor and hard drive. Compared to most computers out on the market right now it is amazing." Tara had to agree, the computer Cordelia had created was light years ahead of anything on Earth, it was only about nine inches wide and five inches tall. And less than a third of an inch thick. But comparing it to a high-end computer on the market it was more than amazing. The _tablet_ as Cordelia was calling it, could store almost one hundred terabytes of data. And it was faster than any of the supercomputers that the Government had. When Cordelia had shown it to Samantha Carter and David Nabbit, both of them had been stunned. Cordelia had already drawn up plans for how they could be created, here on Earth. The initial prototypes, that Cordelia had created were fantastic. Cordelia had only created a hundred of them, but all of the Scoobies now had one. Along with SG-1 and several others that Jack had felt needed them. Ten had gone to the US Government and another ten to the British so that they could see what would be available shortly. Cordelia had had to create a new computer language to make everything work together. Well, it was new to Earth; it was actually based on old programs the Asgard had once used.

After doing the math, Cordelia had announced that they could have production ready to go by July. And it would only cost them about a hundred and twenty dollars per unit to create everything if they could break the one million units sold barrier. David had been drooling at the idea of what this could do. He was frankly betting it might put IBM and several other companies out of business. When Cordelia and the Scoobies had proposed that they create a joint company with him he had almost fainted.

"So are you going to bring your project," Willow asked.

"I might as well," Tara said. Tara had been going over several communication ideas. She had already designed a new satellite system that could be kept powered using solar power once it was in orbit. It's projected lifespan was thirty years. And it could easily handle all of the traffic Earth currently produced twenty times over. An offhand comment by Jono had even had her looking into creating a better cell phone to go with it. "You know I should talk to Cordelia about her tablet. If we can add in the cell phone program it would make them even more valuable."

"That's a really good idea," Willow agreed. "But weren't you planning to do a video feature?"

"Well yeah," Tara admitted. "But we could always save that for later. I mean that way, we have something to bring out as an upgrade. Besides scaling down the holographic display has been really hard to get right. And if we hold off on putting the cell phone on the market, it would allow us to maybe find a good partner so we don't cause too much damage."

Frankly, that had been one of their worries, they didn't want to destroy whole sections of the existing economies. And they knew that their products could do that if they weren't careful. But at the same time, there was so much they needed to do. Giles had said that since they were at war, even if the planet as a whole didn't know it, they had to do the best they could to make sure Earth was prepared for when the Goa'uld next attacked.

The rest of the ride to Buffy's house was spent talking about their various plans. Arriving at Buffy's they could see two other cars were already there. "Looks like the protection detail is here," Tara said with a smile. She hadn't been happy about that at first. But after seeing all of the paparazzi that had swarmed the nightclub she was now convinced that they were a great thing. "Still, I hope Xander gets the Enterprise's transporters working soon." Willow nodded in agreement. Xander had volunteered to work on those since he didn't want to be a taxi service forever. He also had said the math seemed really easy to him which had shocked everyone who knew him. But he hoped to have it repaired in the next few days.

Walking into the house Willow and Tara said hello to Joyce and Giles. They were surprised to see Teal'c and Daniel were there as well. "Hey," Willow said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I will be accompanying you on your journey," Teal'c said. "Joyce Summers felt it would be helpful to Buffy Summers to have someone with whom she could spar during your trip."

Daniel nodded, "And I'm here to talk with Rupert. We've got a line on almost every single potential that the Watcher's Council knew about. And the British have been taking point on contacting them and bringing them in. Also, I've got the files about the girls who are still alive from project _Achilles_. We were talking about school requirements and what we should have planned."

"Oh," Willow said. "Make sure you let me know the numbers, we need to make sure to have enough buildings and space for the school. Plus housing and everything else. Hopefully, by the time we get back, I'll have everything done with the crystal construction math. So then we'll just have to move to designing how we want it to look for the island."

Giles nodded, "I shall make sure that Xander updates the information from scanning the islands. I believe he was planning to do that later today. We wanted to check and see what natural resources might be hidden on the islands." Giles might not like technology, but since the Asgard had upgraded everyone's knowledge he was much more comfortable using it. A part of him dearly missed Jenny; she would have loved to be a part of everything. And whilst the children had been focusing on the new technologies, he had been working on cataloging the Watchers' properties, and figuring out who was trustworthy enough to continue as a watcher. The time he was able to spend with Joyce was becoming more and more precious to him. In fact, he had finally admitted that he was going to need a staff to help him with all of his new duties. "If you wouldn't mind, Tara," Giles said. "Whilst you are in LA would you give this letter to Wesley?"

"Sure Dad," Tara said. "What's it for?"

"I have decided," Giles said, "after talking to Buffy, Faith, and Cordelia, to ask Wesley to help with restructuring the Watchers' Council. I believe he has changed quite a bit from when he first arrived in Sunnydale. And I am hoping that he will be able to help me bridge the gap with those watchers who are undecided as to what they shall do. Once they see that I am only trying to get rid of those who are incapable of adapting to their new reality, I hope many of them will decide to continue with us."

Buffy came down from upstairs and greeted everyone. After final goodbyes to the parents, the five-car caravan set off to LA. They would be staying at a very nice hotel, which she didn't even want to think about how much it would cost them. But apparently the US and British Governments had decided that they needed a line of credit. Her Mom hadn't wanted to say how much for but she had looked anyway. Both Governments had guaranteed over one hundred million dollars in loans through the international banking system.

When they Arrived at the hotel, it was barely ten in the morning. Once everyone was checked in, Buffy, Willow, and Tara were amazed. They had the penthouse suite. It had a pool and private lounge areas. Plus the view was to die for.

After unpacking, Buffy and Willow decided it was time to go talk to Angel. Tara was very understanding; she could see how nervous both women were. For different reasons, but both were uncomfortable with meeting Angel again. The trip to Angel's hotel was thankfully short. Walking into the Hyperion, Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Teal'c had four other guards with them; the rest had taken up watching the outside of the building.

As Buffy opened the door, she was shocked to see Oz. He was standing there talking with Booth. Buffy knew it had to be Booth because she couldn't see Angelus in his face. Wesley was off to the side. Wesley was going through several books that were laid out in front of him. He didn't even look up to see who had arrived.

"Oz," Willow said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" she asked grabbing Tara's hand. Willow wasn't sure how she was going to break the news about her and Tara to Oz.

"Willow," Oz said. "And you're Tara, right?" Tara nodded. Oz smiled, "I heard about Sunnydale. Knew I needed to come back." Looking at both of them he slowly approached them, Willow had a death grip on Tara's hand. "Congratulations."

Willow almost fainted, Oz knew! And he didn't seem all jealous and angry. "How?"

"News," Oz replied.

Tara shook her head, "You heard about us from the news?" Oz nodded.

"And you're not angry?" Willow asked.

"Surprised," Oz admitted. "But happy for you." Oz could admit to himself he felt jealous of Tara, but he also knew he had left Willow. She had the right to move on.

Willow started to cry, "Thanks, Oz," she said as she hugged him. "I'm sorry you had to find out from the news. But I didn't know how to contact you, or anything!"

Buffy was watching the reunion of the two former lovers. Turning to Wesley and Booth she said, "Where is Angel?"

Booth looked at her, "I'm right here Buffy," Angel said.

"What," Buffy exclaimed. "But how? You're not a vampire anymore!"

Angel looked startled, "How do you know that? I mean it just happened, and I don't even know how. How can you tell?"

Buffy looked ready to faint. "Since everything that happened; Faith and I can always see when someone is a vampire. We only see their game face. You look human. How did this happen?" Buffy moved closer to Angel, she wanted to touch him but at the same time, she knew that she still had things to work out with him.

"I was chasing some strange green demon," Angel explained. "Somehow when his blood got in my wound, it did this." Angel pointed to his new human self. "Wesley is still trying to figure out what happened." Turning towards Wesley Angel said, "Wes, got anything yet?"

Wesley looked up from his books, "I might have something," he said. "Did the demon have a jewel between its eyes?"

"Yeah," Angel said. "Why?"

"I believe it was a Mohra demon," Wesley said. "According to the entries, I have found, they have incredible regenerative powers. But their blood was actually fatal to humans. Although several scholars had experimented with it attempting to create an elixir of life. Their blood would cause any human exposed to it to develop cancerous growths that would kill them. Although there was one account where a grievously injured watcher was healed by their blood." Wesley paused, "It may be that because you're body was actually dead, the Mohra blood regenerated your physical body, restoring it to life."

"So Angel's human," Willow asked. "But what happened to your demon?"

Angel smiled, "I'm human. And Angelus is gone. I could always feel him inside of me, but now he's just gone!" Buffy couldn't help herself she hugged Angel as tightly as she could. Angel ended up crying out in pain. "Buffy! Stop!"

Buffy let him go, unsure of what was going on. Angel carefully felt himself over, "I'm human now. That was a lot too strong of a hug."

Buffy blushed, "Sorry, I guess I didn't think about that. I mean you've always been a lot tougher than the others so I've never had to hold back with you before. But you're only human now," she said with a smile.

Angel frowned at the last part. He hadn't thought about that, he was only human now. He had been so excited that he could stand in the sunlight and eat real food. He hadn't really realized what he had lost now that he was human again. But it was the truth; he didn't have his vampiric strength, speed or healing anymore. Angel wasn't sure what he was going to do now.

"This is so great," Buffy gushed. "You can have a real life now. You don't need to fight everything anymore. You can actually be happy, and not have to worry about losing your soul."

"Congratulations, Liam O'Conner," Teal'c said. "To be freed from your imprisonment is a great gift."

"Ah, thanks," Angel said. "Who are you?"

"I am Teal'c of Chulak," Teal'c said. " Alexander of Furling and the Scoobies have told many of the tales of their adventures. You played a prominent role in those."

"Who the hell is Alexander of Furling," Angel asked.

Buffy smiled, "He means Xander, don't worry about it." Angel's face had dropped at hearing Xander's name. Buffy laughed, "Don't worry it wasn't just Xander telling him stuff."

"I need to know about this. Is this permanent? Am I - am I normal Joe now? Can I have a normal life?" Angel was pacing now, "I need to speak to the Powers-That-Be."

The three women were slightly alarmed to hear that. They knew, even if Angel didn't know it, the powers were not good guys. "Why do you want to do that, Angel?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "You should just take what's been given to you. Messing with the PTB's, that's not of the good."

Tara was looking at Angel; his aura was odd. She could see the stains left on it from housing the vampire Angelus. It made it almost impossible for her to get a clear reading. "If you really need some answers then maybe you should go to Caritas," Tara suggested. Since what had happened to Cordelia every one of the Scoobies had met Lorne. Tara had to admit in his own way he was almost as nice as Xander was.

Oz looked at them, "Caritas?"

Willow nodded, "It's a demon bar, but it's really cool, not like Willy's. And they have karaoke, and the Host, Lorne, he can read most people and give you some hints about the future. And there's no violence allowed. So it's really great."

Karaoke?" Oz asked with a raised eyebrow. Oz wasn't sure that karaoke wasn't inherently evil.

"It's cool, Oz," Buffy said. "Even my Mom liked it."

"Mom Approved," Oz said. Shrugging he figured he would give it a shot.

It was still before noon, but the group knew Lorne would probably already be at his club. And he had told them all they could come over at any time. Knocking on the door to the club, Mia, the waitress with the scales, opened the door. Seeing the group she shook her head. Turning to look over her shoulder she called out to Lorne. Lorne came to the door, seeing the large group he was surprised. Buffy, Willow, and Tara were all fairly well known to him by now. But the rest were new.

"Darlings," Lorne gushed. "Now what brings you here before the crack of noon?" Lorne ushered them inside. He called Mia back to start taking drink orders.

"It's Angel," Tara said. "Something happened to him, and he's human now." Lorne looked shocked. "We need a reading to see if this is permanent, or what might be happening." Lorne still looked a bit shocked at that.

"So Sam Spade is just a regular guy now?" he asked.

"That's what we need to find out," Buffy said. Turning to Angel, she grabbed his arm, "Go," Buffy ordered, pushing him towards the stage.

Angel didn't look happy, but he obeyed. Picking his music Angel started on his truly horrible rendition of Mandy. Everyone present was surprised, except Lorne who had heard Angel sing before. Oz had known people who couldn't sing, he was frankly amazed at how bad Angel was. "Wow," was the only thing Oz could say about Angel's singing.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. Both men looked at one another and recognized a kindred soul. Teal'c tipped his head to Oz, and Oz replied with a raised eyebrow.

Once Angel was done signing he came back down. Standing a little away from the group he asked Lorne, "Well?" Lorne got up and walked towards him. Pulling him to another table the two sat down to talk. After several minutes it was obvious to Buffy that Angel didn't like whatever Lorne was telling him. Angel finally got up, stalking towards the front door, he turned to everyone. "I need some time to figure everything out. I'm sorry Buffy," Angel said as he left.

Buffy was about to go after him when Lorne placed a hand on her arm, "Princess," Lorne said. "He really needs to think about things. Let him go."

"What did you see," Buffy demanded. "Is he going to be alright?"

Lorne sighed, he really had a policy of not sharing readings, but he knew Buffy well enough to know that, that policy, could have big problems. "He's human," Lorne said. "Nothing more than that."

"But, but that's great," Willow said. "I mean isn't it great?"

Lorne shook his head, "Not to him. He's no longer a champion for the Powers. No special destiny anymore."

"Why would this upset Liam O'Conner?" Teal'c asked.

"Because he's normal now," Tara said. "Before he was special; Angel the Vampire with a soul. Now he's just Liam." Tara might not have known Angel, but she had listened to everyone as they talked about their mutual past.

"What's wrong with being just human?" Buffy asked.

Lorne looked at her, "Because, humans are fragile. I think he's scared. Scared of not being able to fight, of being hurt, being vulnerable."

"But he can still fight," Willow protested. "I mean Xander fought for years as just a normal guy. And Angel has a lot more experience than Xander did."

Buffy shook her head, "But Angel isn't Xander. Xander never lets anything stop him. Angel would let almost anything stop him," she admitted. It had taken a bunch of talks with Sweets to admit that, but it had been a revelation. Part of her was still sad, sad that if she had opened her eyes she could have had Xander. Even though she could see how happy he and Faith were together. "He always looked down on Xander, and now he's right where Xander was."

"Is he truly so foolish?" Teal'c asked. "I would rejoice to no longer have to carry a prim'ta. Even with the loss of the benefits it brings."

Buffy nodded, "Yeah he is. I guess he just wants what he can't have. And he's afraid of fighting as a normal man."

"Then he is a fool," Teal'c declared. "I have seen the prowess of the Tau'ri. They are highly skilled in battle; the loss of his demon should not deter him from the fight."

Buffy looked at Teal'c he really was right, "Thank you," Buffy said hugging Teal'c.

"What are you thanking me for, Buffy Summers?" Teal'c asked.

"For being a good man," Buffy said. "I just wi- ah would like it if there were more men like you."

"So," Lorne said, "Enough of the downers, kiddies. What else can I help you with?"

Willow smiled at Lorne, "Well have you decided if you'll take the job with us?"

Lorne shook his head, ever since the thing with Cordelia they kept encouraging him to come with them to their island. "Still haven't decided," Lorne admitted. "I still think you could do better."

"Now that's crazy," Buffy said. "Cordelia backs it up too."

"So," Oz said, "Job?" Willow nodded and began to catch Oz up on everything that had happened to them since he had left.

As she was talking to Oz, Tara pulled Wesley to one side. "Wesley," Tara said. "Dad wanted me to give this to you." Handing him the envelope Wesley opened it and began to read.

"Oh my," Wesley said. "Did Lord Rupert tell you what was in this?"

Tara nodded, "He really hopes that you'll accept. I think with you on board, a lot of the watchers that are not sure of him will come around."

Wesley snorted, "He is placing a great deal of faith in my abilities."

Tara looked at him, "I think it's justified. From all the stories, you're not the same person who came to Sunnydale. And now you can help a lot more people. Maybe you should listen to Willow's story before you decide." They hadn't shared the full story with Wesley, and Tara felt now might be the right time to do that. Wesley nodded as he sat down and listened to Willow's tale.

Lorne by this time already knew everything. He was still not sure what he should do about the future, which for an oracle was really funny. Most of the afternoon was spent as the story was told. Once they got to the part about Aliens, Oz looked for a minute and said, "Aliens?" Then he looked at Teal'c.

"Indeed," Teal'c confirmed.

"Hmm," Oz said. As Willow continued her story.

It wasn't too long before all the stories had been told. Willow and Tara invited Oz to come back with them. Since he had only been at Angel's in order to get a ride to Sunnydale he agreed to go with them. As the group reached the hotel they were surprised to see almost twenty reports waiting for them. Getting out of their cars, the photographers were taking pictures and shouting questions. Across the street, several protesters had set up. They had pictures of Tara and Willow and signs that said they would burn in hell. Willow took one look at that and almost lost her temper.

Tara pulled Willow inside before she could do anything to the protestors. "It's Ok, Willow," Tara said.

"No, it's not," Willow said. "They don't know us or what we do. And they think because we love each other we're going to hell. They have no idea what real hell is like!"

Tara smiled, "And they don't know anything about Heaven either. So how about you show me Heaven and we'll forget all about them?" Willow gulped then followed Tara into their bedroom.

Buffy had been relaxing in the pool, Oz and Teal'c had joined her. Both men were very quiet, but it was relaxing to be around them. Although she wished she could read Teal'c better, he really was the hardest man she had ever met for reading what they were thinking about. She had ended up taking Oz down to the Hotel gift show to pick him up a pair of swim trunks. While there she had seen a small metallic blue bikini that looked so good on her. Once they were changed she could tell Oz, appreciated the view, but she wasn't sure about Teal'c.

As she was lying down in the Sun the phone rang. Picking it up she heard someone's voice that she hadn't heard in too long. "Daddy," Buffy cried out. "Oh, you're here?... No don't get your own room. We have the entire Penthouse level. There's plenty of room for you too… OK, I'll call down to the front desk and let them know… I love you, Daddy."

Buffy quickly called down to the front desk and told them that her Father was there and he should be brought up to the suite. Looking down at herself she realized she should change clothes before her Dad arrived. She ran towards her room, only stopping to knock on Tara and Willow's door. "He's here," Buffy informed them. "I told him to come up here so he should be here soon." Tara and Willow mumbled something from inside their room, but Buffy was already gone.

Changing into something better suited to seeing her Dad, a nervous Buffy waited for Hank Summers. She had had to stop at Tara and Willows door again to make sure they were getting ready. She just hoped that Hank Summers would listen and understand.

Hank Summers wasn't sure what was going on. He had heard about what happened in Sunnydale. But Joyce had assured him that Buffy was fine. Then he had seen the photos and news stories on Rupert Giles, the new Earl of Kent. And Joyce was his date. Buffy had been there as well, along with Faith. He had been shocked when he learned about Faith, he was grateful that Joyce had told him about her several months ago.

Truthfully Hank Summers had been adrift ever since the divorce. He still didn't know why he had fooled around on Joyce. But he knew he had, and he knew Joyce would never forgive him. It had led to too many nights alone with a bottle; Or with some cheap date. He had found himself pulling away from Buffy because he knew he had failed her as a Father. It was only in the last six months that he had started to pull himself together. While he still drank occasionally he didn't curl up into a bottle anymore. And he was actually single right now. His therapist had recommended Hank work on himself before he tried for a stable relationship.

And then Buffy had called wanting to see him. He had almost said no out of a sense of shame. But Joyce had called him shortly after Buffy and warned him not to disappoint Buffy. Because no matter what, Buffy deserved time to be with the Father she loved. The guilt alone had been enough for him to agree with almost anything. So here he was riding an elevator up to a penthouse to see his only daughter.

As the doors of the elevator opened and Hank Summers stepped out, he was almost knocked to the ground by Buffy. "You're here," an excited Buffy said. "You're really here! I missed you, Daddy."

Hank felt like his heart was melting, "I missed you too sweetheart," Hank said. "And I'm sorry I didn't come around like I should have."

Buffy shook her head," Doesn't matter! You're here." Buffy pulled Hank into the room. "Dad, This is Willow and her wife Tara. That's Oz, he's a friend from Sunnydale. Over there is Teal'c, he's been helping me to train."

Hank greeted everyone. The bell hops finished putting his luggage into one of the rooms. Hank tipped them and they left. He could tell Buffy was nervous about something, but he wasn't even sure where he should start when it came to talking to her.

"Dad," Buffy said, "tonight we are going to have a long talk. And I need you to promise me to listen. I promise we can prove everything we're going to tell you about. But I need you to keep an open mind."

"Buffy," Hank began. "I know I've screwed up. And I haven't been there for you. But I promise I'll try and listen to you."

Buffy smiled at her Dad, "Thank you, Daddy," she said as she hugged him. "OK, the hardest thing first," Buffy got up and ran into her bedroom. Less than a minute later she came out with a steel bar. Handing the bar to Hank she said, "I want you to try and bend this, Dad."

Hank felt the heavy bar and looked at Buffy like she was kidding, "OK, Honey." He tried to bend the thing but it wouldn't budge. "I'm sorry, I just can't do it," Hank admitted.

Buffy smiled, "I know," she said. "I just wanted you to try, so that you know this isn't a trick." Buffy took the bar back and proceeded to bend it into a pretzel.

Hank was amazed, "How?"

"It's OK," Buffy said. "Daddy, I'm sorry, but you have to know the truth. I'm not like other girls. Remember when I burned down the Gym?" Hank nodded it was hard to forget, that was shortly before his life had gone to hell. "Well, when I told you there were vampires in the gym, I didn't tell you the whole story." Hank almost interrupted at the mention of Vampires but he held his tongue. Buffy then started to tell her story.

Hank didn't want to believe what Buffy told him, about how her life had been in constant danger because she was this _Slayer_ and magic was real. Willow and Tara had proven that. By the time Buffy got up to her graduation he didn't know what to say anymore. Briefly, they called down for room service. Once the food had been delivered he was amazed at how much food his little girl could eat. She had laughed when she explained that part of the Slayer package was that she needed a lot more calories. Although one of the perks was she would never get fat.

Then came the rest of the story, Aliens, their were real Aliens out there. And Buffy was technically an Alien. Teal'c had shown his symbiote, which had freaked Hank out. But Buffy had promised that if he wanted he could go with them up to the Asgard ship. Then Buffy got to the real shocks.

"Daddy," Buffy said. "You need to know the final truth. We found out that the Powers that Be, they caused you and Mom to get divorced."

"No, Buffy," Hank protested. "That was my fault. I cheated on your mother. And I'm so sorry for doing that. But I did, and we can't change that."

"Mr. Summers," Willow said. "That's not true. When we did the spell to remember the truth, Joyce found out that you never cheated on her. Whistler just made you, your secretary and Joyce think that you had. But if you're willing we can give you back your real memories."

Hank didn't know what he should do. He had worked hard to accept his own responsibility in the destruction of his marriage. And now Buffy and her friends were saying that it hadn't happened. "I'm not sure," Hank admitted.

"Daddy," Buffy pleaded. "You deserve to know the truth. And I know this won't change anything. You and Mom won't be getting back together. But no one deserves what those bastards have done to us. They raped our minds!" Hank could tell how upset Buffy was.

"OK, Buffy," Hank said. "If it means so much to you, I'll do it." Buffy smiled at him and got up with Tara and Willow. The three of them held hands and started chanting. Then a light gathered around their joined hands and shot into Hank Summers. Hank fell back on his seat as he had the truth revealed to him.

When Hank opened his eyes he looked at his daughter, "Oh Buffy," Hank said. "I am so sorry, I remember now. I'm sorry that I didn't know."

Buffy hugged her Dad, "Not your fault," Buffy muttered into his chest. Looking up at him she said. "You saw Whistler and what he did, right?"

Hank nodded, "Yes," Hank paused. "But what happens now?"

Buffy smiled, " Now you get to hear about the future!" Tara, Willow, and Buffy started to tell him about everything they had left out. The islands and learning from the Asgard. All the possibilities that were in front of them.

Willow pulled out her folder with everything they had thought up for the island. She started explaining their ideas for a government and showed him the tablet Cordelia had created. Tara explained about how they were going to be setting up better satellites and they were looking at moving into the cellular phone market.

For Hank Summers this was amazing. His normal work as a lawyer with an advertising firm meant he did have an idea of how much these products would be worth. When they explained how they would have dual citizenship, and the tax benefits of being a citizen he jokingly asked, "Honey, where do I sign up?"

Buffy just looked at him, swatting him on the arm she said, "You're my Dad. We already decided that any of our parents would have the right to live on the island. Even Xander's Mom!"

"OK, Honey," Hank said. "Now how can I help? You've got amazing products here. And it sounds like you're going to be bringing a lot of new ones to the market in the next few years. Please let me help with that. Plus from what Willow has shown me you're creating your own Government. I'd like to try and help with that as well. I never was into criminal law, but I'd be happy to help. The main thing to remember is to keep it simple. One of the hardest things about the way the law is today is everyone looks to previous cases, rather than just look at the law itself."

"But wouldn't that make everything too rigid?" Willow asked.

"Depends on how you do it," Hank said. "What you want to do is leave room for discretion but at the same time every case is different. You want to be able to look at a case only based on its own merits." Willow and the others nodded; that made sense.

Buffy was just happy her Dad was taking things better than she had hoped for. And he wanted to be a part of her future. She wasn't ready for his next question.

"So Buffy," Hank said. "Is there anyone special you're seeing now?"

"Ah," Buffy said. "No, I was seeing someone in Sunnydale, but it turned out he wasn't the right guy for me." Buffy paused, "It's really hard to find someone who can accept me for who I am. I mean yeah I'm a girl, but being a Slayer, a Witch, and a Protector is so much more. When the other Xander called me and Faith to be Protectors it was like lightning. I mean you know how in the movies they talk about the moment when everything changes?"

Hank nodded his head. "Well that was it," Buffy said. "We still don't know exactly what it means. But Faith and I have talked. I mean the whole dealy with Daughter of Summer and Daughter of Winter. You know that has to mean something. But so far we don't know what."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Hank said. "And until you do just keep doing your best." Hank looked at the clock, "Wow," Hank said. "It's already eleven thirty?" I can't believe we've been talking that long. Still, I think I need to get some sleep." Standing up he hugged his daughter again and kissed her head. "We'll talk more tomorrow," Hank promised.

Everyone went to turn in. Hank found himself alone in his room. He couldn't not believe what he had learned tonight. The spell to restore his memories had shown him the truth. Sitting on his bed, Hank also knew that his actions after the divorce were his own. As he thought about how he had abandoned his little girl, Hank Summers started to cry. Sleep wouldn't come quickly as he felt the weight of his guilt.

Angel had been wondering the city for hours. After talking with Lorne he didn't know what to do. He wanted to be happy that he wasn't a vampire anymore. He could eat real food, he could walk in the sunlight. He had a life in front of him. But at the same time, he felt lost. Before last night he knew what his purpose was: he had been called to fight, to make up for his past as Angelus. But according to Lorne that was gone. He wasn't a champion anymore, he was just Liam O'Conner.

Over two hundred years of being a vampire was a long time. Angel never bothered to worry about where he was because he was a master vampire. Tonight he had been drinking, for the first time since he had been turned he was actually drunk. Vampires can drink and get a buzz from it, but vampires never had to deal with drinking so much it made you sick or hung-over.

Angel could feel the difference, it was an old friend. As Angel staggered down the street heading home, he didn't even notice the two vampires in front of him. Both of them knew who Angel was, the vampire cursed with a soul. The fact that they recognized him would have saved him if Angel hadn't started throwing up. Looking at each other, the two vampires moved closer to Angel.

"Well what do we have here," the first vampire said.

"Looks like a human," the second vampire said. Drawing a deep breath he added, "Smells like one too."

"Human," the first vampire asked. "How could that be this is Angelus, Master Vampire, Scourge of Europe, not some pathetic human." Reaching out the vampires grabbed Angel and pulled him closer. "Well, well, well," He said his game face showing. "It is a human. So what happened to you, Angelus?"

Angel looked at the vampire, then belched in his face. "Sod off," Angel said. "You think you can take me? I was Angelus, I could dust you like that," Angel tried to snap his fingers but he was too hammered to be able to do it.

"Oh," The vampire moaned, "I'm so scared." He backhanded Angel to the ground. "Come on get up blood bag, I want to have some fun before I kill you."

Angel lay on the ground. He couldn't quite understand how he had gotten there. He was trying to pick himself up when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oi," The voice called out. "I think you two need to reconsider your dinner plans."

The two vampires looked up and saw Spike, he was a little bit ahead of Drusilla. "What's it to you?" the second vampire asked. Both Spike and Drusilla looked tanned, "After all if you're so worried about our dinner plans you two can be added to the meal." Both Vampires laughed, at the joke.

"Now, let's not be hasty," the first vampire said. "She looks like she would be fun. How about we kill you and him, but her," he paused. "Well, we'll have some fun with her. After all, she looks like she'd be a good fuck. I bet she's a screamer."

Drusilla smiled, "Oh, naughty little boys think they can make me scream?"

"You two just made a big mistake," Angel slurred.

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart," Spike said.

"Now that's funny," the second vampire said. "Give it your best shot blood bag."

Spike blurred forward, the vampire couldn't even believe how fast this guy was. Grabbing the arm of the second vampire Spike braced his other arm on the vampire's chest. Then he pulled down. The second vampires started screaming as Spike pulled his arm off. Spike grabbed the arm and started beating the one-armed vampire on the head with it. "Oi," Spike said, "Why are you hitting yourself?" After five blows the arm was almost shredded.

The first vampire seeing this went to move to help kill the human when he saw Drusilla in front of him. "Ah, ah, ah," Drusilla said, wagging a finger at him. "It's not polite to interrupt." The vampire felt a sense of dread, as Drusilla looked at him. "My what a naughty little boy you are. I think you need to be punished." Drusilla grabbed his head and pulled him down so that he was looking into her eyes. "Be in my eyes, see your fate." The vampire seemed to go still for a few seconds, then it started to scream. Drusilla let it go; the vampire fell to the ground screaming. It picked itself up and started to back away, never taking its eyes off of Drusilla. It continued to scream as it was finally far enough away to turn and run, still screaming, it ran into the night.

"What'd you do to him," the one-armed vampire yelled.

"Don't worry bout it mate," Spike said. "He shouldn't a said that about me Dru. But you, you're the lucky one."

"I am," the vampire asked hopefully.

"That's right mate," Spike said picking him up with one hand. "It's your lucky night. See I'm going to kill you rather than let Dru have you." Spike reached back with his free hand and plunged it into the vampire's chest. He grabbed the vampire's heart and pulled it out then held it in front of the vampire.

The vampire knew he was dead, but strangely he felt grateful, "Thank you," he said as he crumbled to dust.

Angel felt someone picking him up. He managed to open his eyes and saw Spike holding him up, "What are you doing here," Angel slurred.

Spike pushed Angel as far away as he could without dropping him. "Oi, Bloody buggering hell, you stink."

Angel belched again. Drusilla came up to look at him, "Hello not Daddy. We have so much to talk about. William and I have missed you so much." Turning to Spike she said, "Bring him." Drusilla started walking back the way they had come, Spike followed carrying Angel.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 12

Angel felt like shit. It had been over two hundred years since he had last been hung over. He slowly opened his eyes, then quickly closed them. The morning sun was too damn bright. He heard a door open and someone came into the room. "Oi," Spike called out in a voice that was much too loud. "Time to get up you bloody poofer." Spike went to shake Angel awake.

"I'm up," Angel admitted. "But for the love of God, please keep it down."

Spike laughed, "Not Bloody likely mate. I'm going to enjoy every minute of this."

"Now, William," Drusilla said. "That's not very nice." Then Drusilla laughed, "But it is fun. Good morning not-daddy," she said to Angel.

Angel opened his eyes in spite of the pain. "Dru," He said. Then he saw her standing in the sunlight. "How?"

"Oh, this?" Drusilla said while indicating the sunlight. "There have been some changes since last we talked Angelus."

"I'm not Angelus," Angel insisted.

"Oh, but you are," Drusilla replied. "You're not the nasty demon. But the demon was you, it was the you, you wished you could be. And because of you, I suffered. You killed my entire family and drove me mad. You raped me in what should have been my haven. You turned me into her. And I had to watch it all happening, for one hundred and forty years I had to watch that creature walking around in my corpse unable to stop it. Barely able to influence it."

Angel looked at Drusilla, it was obvious she was still insane. "You're wrong. That wasn't me."

Drusilla shook her head, "You don't want to understand, but you will. Do you know how much I hate you? If you had just killed me I might have forgiven you, but no, you had to create a masterpiece of evil. You wanted my powers for yourself. Do you like how that worked out for you? Then you stole my redemption!"

"What are you talking about, Dru?" A very confused Angel asked.

Drusilla laughed mockingly at him. "You really don't know? Well not-daddy, do you remember those last few days in Prague? Before you killed the Gypsy? You heard Drusilla talking to me, you heard her planning to kill the Gypsy and that it would make her more powerful." Drusilla slapped Angel, "After forty years of watching her desecrate my body, I had found a way to reclaim it. But you stole it, so instead of my soul being cursed into my body, yours was."

Angel was shocked, what Drusilla was saying couldn't be true. "You're lying," he insisted.

Spike came over and punched Angel in the face, "Don't you ever call my Dru a liar!"

Drusilla stroked Spike's face, "Thank you, my love," she said kissing him. "I have no need to lie to you," Drusilla simply stated. "I only want you to know why you're going to suffer."

"So," Angel said. "You're going to torture and kill me then?"

Drusilla laughed again, "Oh you poor delusional little boy. I'm going to do nothing of the kind. You will live, possibly forever. And you will suffer. Because of you, Angelus was unleashed. Because of you, he destroyed my family, he ruined my life. So I am going to repay you a hundredfold. When I am done, you will not have to worry about death, you will crave its embrace, but it will be denied to you."

"What are you going to do to me," Angel asked.

"Bring him, my sweet William," Drusilla said. She kissed Spike gently, then left the room.

"Spike you don't have to do this," Angel said.

"Course I don't," Spike smiled. "But oh, I want to. I want to see you suffer, for Dru, and for me, for everyone you harmed. I want to see you beg for death." Spike picked up Angel like he was a rag doll and left the room, following Drusilla.

Being carried through the hallway Angel thought the place looked familiar. After a few minutes, he said, "Wasn't this the place Russell Winters owned?"

"Don't know, Don't care," Spike replied. "It's Dru's place now."

"How," Angel asked. "There's no way you could afford this place!"

Spike laughed, "Just as stupid as ever. Aren't you Angel? Dru's a bloody seer. Even before she got us fixed up, I could get her to place a few bets. Get us enough dosh to make life comfortable. Now? Now she just had to hit a few casinos and we've got more money than we can spend."

Spike kicked open a door, Angel saw it was a large room with two altars side by side. Chained to one of the altars was the Mohra demon. Between the two altars was something that looked like a stocks. Spike took Angel and locked him into the stocks.

"You'll just wait here for us won't you not-daddy," Drusilla asked as if he had a choice.

"Dru," Angela said. "I'm sorry. But whatever you're planning, don't do it."

"Oh, not-daddy," Drusilla replied. "You've never been sorry. If you had been you would have dusted the creature you made. But you will be, you will be so sorry. You'll weep tears of blood." Turning Drusilla led Spike out the door, turning off the lights and leaving Angel alone with the unconscious Mohra demon in the darkness.

Hank Summers woke up feeling better than he had in years. While last night had been painful, it had also been cleansing. He noticed it was almost noon already. Getting up and using the shower in his room, Hank quickly prepared to face the day.

Walking into the main area of the penthouse, Hank looked for Buffy. He spotted her outside, fighting with Teal'c. They were incredible. Hank had never seen anyone move like his daughter. She seemed to flow, from one moment to the next. He could tell that if any of those blows had hit him he would have been seriously injured. But his little girl didn't even seem to notice them. It was ten minutes before Teal'c called a halt to the fight.

"You have improved, Buffy Summers," Teal'c said.

"Well, I didn't want to disappoint my favorite teacher," Buffy said with a smile.

"Indeed, you have not," Teal'c replied. Buffy laughed at the compliment.

Seeing her Dad was up Buffy ran over to him, "Morning Daddy," she said, hugging him. Hank might have protested because she was very sweaty, but it had been a long time since Buffy had been so happy to see him.

"Morning sweetheart," Hank said. "So what are our plans for today?"

"Well," Buffy said. "We really didn't have anything planned. I wasn't sure how you would take everything we told you so I didn't want to plan anything."

"Well," Hank began, "How about I call for room service while you get showered and changed? Once we eat we can decide what to do?"

"Oh," Buffy said, realizing she had hugged her Dad while sweaty and gross. "Sorry about that," she said.

"It was worth it, honey," Hank assured her. "I've missed you the last few years. So I'll take sweaty hugs anytime you want to give them." Buffy blushed at the compliment her Dad had just given her.

"Thank you, Daddy," Buffy said. Giving Hank a quick kiss on the check she ran to her room to get cleaned up.

Teal'c had watched everything, approaching Hank he said, "Greetings, Hank Summers."

"Ah, good morning, Teal'c," Hank replied. "Do you do that regularly, with Buffy?"

"No," Teal'c said. "My duties with Colonel O'Neill usually do not leave me as much time as I would like to help train your daughter."

"Oh, ah," Hank stammered. He really wasn't sure what to talk about.

"Your spirit seems much improved this morning, Hank Summers," Teal'c said.

"Yes," Hank replied. "Last night was difficult. I don't know if you can understand how it feels to know you've failed your child. But I've known for a while that I had failed Buffy. I just lacked the courage to do anything about it. But now she's given me a chance to be her Father again."

"I understand," Teal'c said. "I too have a child, Rya'c. I have not seen him in too long of a time. And when I rebelled against the false god Apophis, I know it caused much hardship for him and his mother. I can only take solace in the fact that I know what I do will build a future of freedom for him and all Jaffa."

Hank didn't know how to respond. He hadn't abandoned his daughter for any noble reasons. And while he now knew that he hadn't wanted to abandon her, he still had the guilt and shame. "I just hope I can make it up to her," Hank said.

"There is nothing to 'Make-up'," Teal'c said. "Past wrongs can not be undone. Instead, you must build on the future. I believe you have made an excellent start, Hank Summers. I do not believe I have ever seen Buffy Summers so filled with joy."

Teal'c left Hank to his thought as he went to clean up as well. Hank called down to room service and had them send up a large brunch. He sat down and started playing with the tablet that Willow had shown him the night before. Working in advertising he was familiar with a wide variety of products. His firm had even had an ad campaign for IBM last year. This thing was so far above the newest computers he had seen that it wasn't even in the same ballpark.

Buffy came out shortly before the food arrived. Once the food was here, everyone else emerged from their rooms. As they ate, the group talked about what they were working on. Hank was browsing the papers that Willow had on the new government they were creating while listening as Tara talked about the satellites they would soon have finished. When she mentioned they would be solar powered he interrupted.

"The system you're using to power them," Hank began. "Could that be used for normal power generation here on Earth?"

"Ah," Tara paused, "Probably. Why?"

Hank smiled, "Because if it can be you have a world changing product right there. Depending on the systems it could provide power without having to use a generator to places that have never had power lines. The environmental groups might even canonize you for it."

Oz softly laughed, "Saint Tara," he said. "Sounds right." Oz had already lost any of the jealousy he had felt. It was impossible to be around Tara without realizing she was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Tara blushed as Willow encircled her from behind, "I agree, Oz," Willow said. "Saint Tara sounds just about perfect." Turning to Hank, "Mr. Summers," Willow began.

"Willow," Hank interrupted. "I plan on being around a lot. Please, all of you call me Hank."

"I think I'll stick with Dad," Buffy quipped.

Willow nodded, "Hank, maybe you should look over all of the projects we are working on? See if you can spot any other markets we are missing?"

"I'd like that," Hank admitted. "And if you'd let me I'd be happy to help." The conversation died down as they finished eating. Once Buffy finished the last of the food. Hank asked, "So what will we be doing today?"

"Well," Buffy said. "I thought we might take you to meet the Asgard."

Hank was surprised, he hadn't thought about that as a possibility. "If they're OK with that I would love to meet them."

Teal'c called the security detail, informing them that they would be gone for the morning. The group gathered in a large room the suite provided for conferences and signaled the Bautarsteinn to bring them up.

For someone who considered himself an ordinary man, Hank Summers was amazed. The technology that went into something like the Bautarsteinn was so far beyond what the childhood science fiction fantasies had promised. He did find out that Buffy had an ulterior motive for bringing him. He was forced to sit through multiple exams performed by the Asgard. The one called Eir had even taken some of the results and was speaking with Buffy, showing her the results. Hank couldn't understand a word they said. Apparently Buffy had learned the Asgard language and as she explained to him, some things just didn't translate correctly into English.

Buffy nodded and walked over to her father. "Hey Daddy," she said. "So do you want to hear the good news?"

"Sure, Honey," Hank said.

"Well,you're in very good health for your age," Buffy said. "And Eir was able to confirm that you do have Furling genetic markers. However, none of them are active."

"What does that mean?" Hank asked.

"Basically, It means that some of your ancestors were Furling," Buffy said. "But without the markers being active you wouldn't have any talents. The more of the markers that are active the more powerful you are."

"OK," Hank said. "I'm sorry sweetheart, that still doesn't make much sense to me. I always thought you would be whatever you are. Like you have brown eyes or you don't."

Buffy laughed, "Yeah, Furling genetics aren't like that. From what we learned the older a Furling got, the more powerful they became. Right now, Xander is the most powerful of all of us. But Eir says the new baby will be even more powerful."

Hank nodded, Joyce's pregnancy had come as a surprise. And after hearing the full story he realized what an understatement that was. "But hey," Buffy said. "Mom's been focusing on medical thingies. So she may come up with something that will change that."

"Medical Thingies, Buffy?" Hank said. "I know that you know the right words."

Buffy blushed, "It's one of my things," she shrugged her shoulders. "Keeps people off balance and they underestimate me." Hank nodded; that made sense.

"So your Mom is studying medicine," Hank asked.

Buffy nodded, "Since her Talent is healing, she wanted to be able to really understand what she was doing."

"Wow," Hank said. "I never would have seen that coming. What about you, what are you studying?"

Buffy blushed, "I haven't really found my thing yet. I really like working with Willow on modifying the Tok'ra crystals. And designing buildings is really cool. But so far nothing has called out to me. Mom and Giles said I shouldn't worry about it. So I've also been using some of my time to figure out how to teach people some of what we know."

"That's amazing, Buffy," Hank praised his daughter. "I never would have guessed you'd be a teacher."

"It's sort of fun, and if I get frustrated I can always go find something to slay," Buffy replied. "But I've already written the first three books that will teach basic first-grade science."

"First grade?" Hank asked confused by her answer.

"Well," Buffy admitted. "That's what we've been calling it. It's more like an advanced college class for Earth. But to the Asgard, this would be things that a child would learn in first grade. We're concentrating on the basic sciences first. Once we have a bunch of people trained we'll look into some of the specialized fields.

"And the Tablet and Satellites you've designed," Hank asked. "Where do those fit in?"

The concepts are more like high school level stuff. But then we had to dumb them down enough so that we could build them using the technology available on Earth. Even then, Cordelia, Faith and Xander spent time figuring out how to create the crystals they use from current technologies." Buffy was rather proud of what they had done so far. "You should have seen how frustrated they were," Buffy laughed remembering how the three of them had acted. "I thought Cordelia might have pulled out her own hair."

"Amazing," Hank said again. "You know I seem to be saying that word a lot."

Buffy laughed, "Well it's true. All of this is 'Amazing' and what we'll do in the future is going to be even more Amazing." Grabbing her Dad's hand she said, "Let's see if Xander is over on the Enterprise, we can show you around our ship."

Drusilla and Spike walked into one of LA's better restaurants. Walking up to the Maitre D, Drusilla smiled at him, "Please inform Ms. Raiden that an old friend has asked to speak with her."

The man looked at Drusilla, she was dressed in almost her normal style, but the cut of the cloth was obviously expensive. And the confidence level she exuded, made him inclined to do as she asked. "I will inquire if Ms. Raiden is willing to speak with you." The man walked back into the restaurant and out of sight.

Several minutes later, he came back. "Ms. Raiden has agreed to see you," he said. "Please follow me."The Maitre D led them to a private room, opening the door Drusilla and Spike entered. The young twenty-two-year-old woman sat at a private table looking at them as they entered.

Drusilla smiled she glided towards Gwen. "Of my dear girl you look positively radiant," Drusilla said. Before Gwen could react Drusilla pulled her out of her chair and kissed her cheek.

Gwen had automatically started to pull away as Drusilla approached. Then the woman kissed her, and there was no electric discharge. "How," Gwen asked.

Drusilla laughed as she sat down. Spike stood behind her closer to the wall watching everything. "Oh, my poor child," Drusilla said. "You've had a tough road. The shocks and the screams. Never allowed to touch anyone, the loneliness, and pain. I know you, my child."

"Who are you," a defensive Gwen asked.

"I'm the answer to your secret prayers," Drusilla replied. "I know you've wished with all your heart, wished to be able to touch another, without killing them. Wished that your gift didn't control your life. I've come to grant your wish."

Hearing the strange woman in front of her, talk about some of her greatest desires, Gwen was automatically suspicious. "Why would you do that," Gwen asked. "What's in it for you?"

Drusilla laughed, "Oh, you're going to help me. I was wronged a long time ago, by a very selfish man. By helping you I'm going to punish him." Drusilla stopped speaking just before the door opened and a waiter came in to see if they were ready to order. Both women ordered, then once the man had left Drusilla continued. "I can promise you complete control of your power. You'll still have it, still be able to do all the wonderful tricks you've learned. But you'll be able to turn it off and on like a switch, so my dear Gwendolyn would you like Auntie Drusilla to fix you?"

Gwen was torn, Drusilla was offering her everything she could hope for. She hated her power, but at the same time, it was useful. If someone had offered to remove it entirely she would have accepted, but Drusilla was offering her more, the ability to completely control her power. After several minutes of quiet Gwen replied, "What do I have to do?"

Drusilla laughed, "Oh, my dear sweet child, we are going to have such fun." The next hour had Drusilla explaining what Gwen would have to do. The fact that she would have to inflict someone else with her curse wasn't enough to make Gwen reconsider. From how Drusilla described the man he had more than earned his fate. Once the details had been worked out, Drusilla raised her glass of wine, "To new family members," she said. "May we always find joy in one another."

Gwen clinked her glass to Drusilla, "I'd like that," she said. Drusilla was strange, but Gwen found herself drawn to her. Having lived so much of her life without close contact with another person, Drusilla was a ray of sunshine in her cloudy life.

Angel had spent the day in the dark, confined to the stocks he realized how truly helpless he now was. He also knew no one would be looking for him, he had guaranteed that when he left Buffy and the others. Angel was forced to be alone with himself, he could see everything that Drusilla had said was true. He should have dusted her when he was cursed, but he had been afraid of what Spike and Darla would do in retaliation.

He couldn't understand that Drusilla, the original Drusilla had wanted to be cursed. She had planned it and Angelus had destroyed those plans. He was sure if she had succeeded Angelus, Darla and Spike would have been dust within a week. And none of them would have seen it coming.

Angel heard the door to the room open, he blinked several times as Spike turned on the lights. Drusilla and another woman walked in. "Drusilla," Angel said. "Please, you don't want to do this. You're better than this."

The new woman laughed, Drusilla joined her as Gwen said, "You were right, he is rather pathetic and I suppose predictable, at least to you."

Drusilla nodded her head. "Oh, Angel," she said. "You're so wrong. I do want to do this, I've been wanting to do this and so many other things for more than a hundred years. But you're right I can't forget kindness. So you will be allowed to petition me once every hundred years to die." Drusilla paused tapping her chin, "It's even possible that one day I may grant you the sweet embrace of Death that you'll crave."

"Not Bloody likely," Spike said.

"Well, of course, it's not likely," Drusilla agreed. "But one must always have hope. Without hope and the dreams it brings, Hell isn't Hell."

"So," Gwen said. "Where did you want me?"

"Stand right by that altar over there," Drusilla said. "You'll only need to touch it, since, unlike our other friend you'll be alive after we're done. Just once you touch the altar let go of the control you normally have to keep. Let all of your beautiful power flow free."

Gwen nodded and moved to the free altar, taking off her gloves she waited for Drusilla. Drusilla stood in front of Angel, pointing one arm to the Mohra demon and the other to Gwen she started to chant. Angel didn't recognize the language she used. Although if any of the Scoobies had heard it they would have recognized it immediately, Furling or as it was generally called on Earth Enochian was rather distinctive.

Power built up in the room, the electrical charge from Gwen coupled with the magic that Drusilla was performing. Electricity started to arch from Gwen's altar striking the Mohra demon directly on its jeweled forehead. The demon jerked and screamed. It had been held in stasis by Drusilla right until that moment. It screamed as its body began to glow. A sickly green light was eating its body. As the light grew stronger, its body began to diffuse, becoming less and less solid. All except for the gem in its forehead; This grew larger. By the time the demon had disappeared, the gem was the size of Angels fist. Another blast of lightning struck the gem, causing it to shatter. The gem fragments floated above the altar, one small light flew from the group, striking Gwen in her chest. She gasped as her lightning stopped. The rest flew towards Angel.

As the motes of the Gem enveloped his body Angel screamed. He had never felt so much pain. Even being trapped in hell for hundreds of years hadn't caused this much pain. The motes touched his skin and disappeared into his body. He felt as if someone had poured liquid fire into him. He could feel everything, and it hurt. He screamed until he passed out.

Drusilla finished her spell, she smiled at Gwen, "Thank you, my sweet child," she said. "Now I know our deal was only to help you, but I want you to know my home and my arms are always open to you."

Gwen nodded this was the part she had been worried about if Drusilla was going to double cross her it would be now. But she felt comforted by Drusilla's words. "Thank you," she paused, "Auntie. One day I may take you up on your offer."

Drusilla smiled and Kissed Gwen, she then whispered in her ear, "I know you will. Now go have some naughty fun. There are so many boys and girls that will love to love you. Enjoy them all my sweet until you come back to me." Gwen nodded and left. Drusilla's words echoing in her mind.

Drusilla turned to Spike, "My dear William will you wake sweet Angel for us?"

"Course, I will Luv," Spike said. Spike grabbed a bucket and filled it with water. Bringing it back to Angel he threw the water on Angel. Angel jerked awake as electricity coursed through him. Even as he saw his skin burn he watched it heal. But the pain was almost too much.

"What did you do to me Drusilla," Angel demanded.

"I gave you what you most wanted not-daddy," Drusilla said. "You were so afraid to be like kitten used to be. Helpless, vulnerable, an easy target. And unlike my kitten, you weren't brave enough to face the night on your own. My kitten was always a tiger, but he knew that you, you have always been a coward. So now you'll never need to be afraid again. The power of Zeus courses through your veins. Anyone who tries to touch you will be in for a nasty shock." Drusilla laughed at her joke. "And even through your power can hurt you, it will never kill you. You'll heal no matter what is done to you." Drusilla looked deeply into Angel's eyes, "And now you will truly feel. Every touch on your skin will be like sandpaper, tearing at it. But it will never show." Drusilla lightly caressed Angel's cheek. Angel bit his lip trying not to scream, it had felt like someone was flaying off his skin.

"Now, don't you cry not-daddy," Drusilla said. "You are allowed to touch yourself without pain. But no one else will ever be able to touch you." She clapped her hands in joy, "Isn't it wonderful, you'll never have to fear anyone getting too close again. Never again will you know that touch of a lover, or a friend."

"Oi," Spike said, "I'd be careful around water too." Spike had gone to get another bucket of water. Dipping his hand in Spike threw the water on Angel. The surprise move caught Angel unprepared, he screamed as lightning arched off of the water that hit him. "Course bathing might be a touch hard," Spike smiled. "But I'm sure you'll figure out a way around that."

"Why Dru," Angel asked, "Why?"

Drusilla's face became hard as she grabbed his face, causing him to scream again. Once he had shut up she said, "You took everything from me, my life, my family, my curse. If you had ended me when you were cursed, it would have saved all of those people the vampire killed, thousands of lives gone because you're a coward. Once you have paid seven times seven for what you took, then mayhaps you'll finally understand."

Drusilla let him go, she laughed again, "Now to the fun parts you must know, after all, what is a party without games?" she asked. "Sometimes water will be fine, but you won't know unless you try. Other times some cloth will be fine, but it will lack rhyme or reason, you can't track it like the seasons. Day by day it will change. For one hour each twenty and four the touch of water will be sweet, but never the two hours shall fall the same, hence you see my lovely game."

Angel scowled "So for one hour every day I can safely touch water?"

"The rules are simple not-daddy," Drusilla said. "Break the rules and you'll only wish you were dead. One day silk might caress your skin, then next it will feel like you've been flayed again. Hope will be there every day, you just have to find what you can touch. I really don't think that's asking too much."

"Great so now you're rhyming," Angel said. "Just tell me what I need to know already!"

Drusilla stopped playing, "No, I don't think I will. This is my game not-daddy. And you will play it, by my rules. You are bound to me, you can't ever harm me again. And I want to see you suffer, the things in life that you longed for are now right before you. But like Midas, your very touch will destroy them."

Turning to Spike, Drusilla said, "Spike my love, Please take out the trash."

Spike nodded, "Anything for you Dru." Spike walked over to Angel releasing the bolts holding him in the stocks. Angel thought he would have fallen from being in them all day but he felt fine. Spike grabbed him, sparks and sandpaper scrawled over his skin. But Spike wasn't affected in the least. Angel wanted to protest, but he just couldn't bring himself to say more. Spike took him to the front door. "Got one thing to say to you mate," Spike said. "You Bloody Fucking well deserve every bit a pain you got coming. Now Fuck Off!" Spike slammed the door in Angel's face.

Angel walked down the path and out onto the street. He didn't know what he was going to do now.

On a higher plain, the being known as Jasmine had been searching, trying to find a way to salvage her plan. The mother was gone. And the grandfather had disappeared. Her worthless minion Skip had tried to hide from her but she dragged him back from Arashmaharr.

Looking down she saw Angel but he had changed. "Oh, this is perfect," Jasmine told Skip. "Look at him isn't he beautiful?"

"Ah, sure?" Skip replied.

"He's perfect, He'll be the Father now,' Jasmine declared. "And I know the perfect being to be the Mother." Jasmine pulled up an image of a young man.

"Ah," Skip said hating to interrupt. "How is he going to be the Mother?"

Jasmine laughed, "Because he is the vessel, he holds Glorificus within him. Once I get her to agree to become the mother, I'll free her. And she will be the means of my entry into the world."

"You want to free Glorificus," Skip screamed. "You know she'll try and kill us all!"

Jasmine shook her head, "She only wants to go home, I'll send her home once she has brought me into the world. And with her gone, there will be no one who can oppose me."

Jasmine turned to Skip, "Now I believe I have several jobs for you to do. Fail me again and I will kill you slowly over the next thousand years. Skip nodded and paid very close attention to what his boss said.

Xander was happily working on the Enterprise. He was in charge of thirty men sent by the British and American Government. It was a lot like running a crew in Sunnydale, except where it wasn't. None of the men helping could even begin to understand the foundations of the systems they were working on. Although the Canadian, Rodney McKay thought he could. Xander had ended up laughing at the pompous twit, and Great Shemp he had actually thought the words 'Pompous Twit' when he dealt with the man. But really it was like a five-year-old trying to explain physics to an adult. The man just didn't understand how far behind the knowledge curve he was.

Xander spent a great deal of time drawing up diagrams for how things had to be assembled. Luckily the men working with him were able to follow the directions. Otherwise repairing the Enterprise would have taken a lot longer. Working with the ship's computer, which he had altered so that it now used Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's voice was just one of the perks of this job.

Xander had just finished the schedule for the next week and was starting his planned scan of both the Furling Islands and the entire planet when Buffy and her Dad transported in. "Buffy," Xander said, "And Buffy's Dad. Welcome to the Enterprise Mr. Summers."

"Ah, Thanks," Hank said. "But please call me Hank."

"As long as you call me Xander," Xander replied. "So Buffster what brings you here?"

"I wanted to show Dad the Enterprise," Buffy said. "We just got through with medical of the Bautarsteinn, and we've been showing Dad everything we've been working on. So I thought he'd like a tour of the Enterprise."

"Sure thing," Xander said. "Just let me get this scan started and I'll go with." Xander turned back to his console and entered in the last few directions. "Computer," Xander said.

"Yes Captain," the Enterprise responded. Both Buffy and Hank looked shocked as they heard the familiar voice. "Initiate Earth Scan Program Xander One."

"Scan initiated," The Enterprise replied. "Time to completion, thirty-six hours and seven minutes."

"You didn't, Xander," Buffy protested.

"Sure I did," Xander said. "After all, while the Asgard might not like voice commands, I think they're great. And really there was only one voice that could be used for the Enterprise."

Hank laughed, "He's right Buffy."

"See Hank agrees with me," Xander said with a grin. "So we now have transporters back online for both incoming and outgoing." Xander pulled out two Asgard communication stones. "I was going to hand these out later but since you're here, no time like now."

"Ah," Hank said. "How does this work?" Buffy showed her Dad how to use the stones. Then the three of them started walking around the more interesting parts of the ship.

Three people were meeting; to plot the demise of the Slayers, they knew that their crimes had to be punished. In a small secure room, buried deep beneath the Earth, they sat.

"Joyce, Colonel O'Neill," General Hammond said. "It's good to see you both again."

"Good to be back, Sir," Jack said.

"General Hammond," Joyce said. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I realize how busy you are. But things have been going so fast. And we still need to decide what Faith and Buffy's punishment will be for the stunt they pulled with the Asgard."

"Please call me George," General Hammond said.

"Alright, George," Jack replied.

Hammond looked at Jack, then smiled. "I think for now that would be best Jack." Jack laughed.

"I have looked over the watcher's diaries that Rupert wrote," Jack said. "And I've had Danny looking over even older ones. We found a very common theme. All of the Slayers were conditioned to fight alone. They were never supposed to have any backup or support outside of their watchers."

"I'm very familiar with that Jack," Joyce said. "It has been one of the most frustrating things about the watchers, outside of Rupert, anyway."

"What is your point Jack," Hammond asked.

"Part of the reason they acted like they did was because of training," Jack said. "I think we need to retrain them."

Hammond nodded, this was actually a well-known method for the military. If training failed you retrained everyone until they met the standards.

"Retrain them? How?" Joyce asked.

"I want to pile on military courses," Jack said with a grin. "I wish we could do a boot camp for them, but physically they would drive any five Drill Instructors into the ground. No, I want to make them go through the toughest training we can think of. In team tactics, leadership, weapons, and anything else we can pile on."

"You're thinking something like SEAL training," Hammond asked.

"Sure you betcha," Jack replied. "But we can cut some of it out. Phase one is out. We know they have the physical part down. But I want them to learn everything from phase two, and three, I think the parachute part could be done later." Jack smiled, "the reason I want phase two and three is instead of them doing it separately, we make them do them at the same time, in half the time."

"You're not serious Jack," Hammond protested. "You really want to take seventeen weeks of training and condense it down to what a month?" Jack nodded. "And what are you going to do for the leadership portion of the training?"

"I was actually talking to Teal'c," Jack said. "He wants twenty Jaffa to go through the course with them. Then they each would be in charge of a ten man squad. They'll need to lead those squads, but not be allowed to actually fight."

Joyce started laughing, "You realize they will hate that?"

Jack nodded, "Of course they will. They both are take charge kind of girls. Being forced to watch others fight for them will be living hell. And after seeing all of their men whipped out a few times it should bring the lesson home."

"What lesson are you trying to teach them, Jack," Joyce asked.

"That what they do has consequences," Hammond replied. "And not just for them, but for those who are being led by them. Buffy has been working with a small group for years, but she doesn't seem to have grasped the fact that when she's fighting it's not just her out there. And Faith needs to learn to rely on others. She's been alone too long. So this might help with those issues."

"He's right," Jack said. "Both of them have similar problems, but this might work to give them the knowledge they are missing. However, we need one additional rule for them."

"What is it," Joyce asked.

"While training," Jack said. "None of the other Scoobies can help. No, calling Xander, Willow or Tara for help on one of our training scenarios."

"What about Rupert or myself," Joyce asked.

"Advice only," Hammond said. "But Jack you seriously want to have them doing thirty-two hours of work in only eight hours?"

"Plan for twelve hour days maybe sixteen," Jack said. "If they can complete it early then they get the remaining hours free. We can't replicate a normal BUDS for them, so this should allow for enough pressure to really teach them."

"What if something comes up," Joyce said. "Something that requires a Slayer?"

"I think the rest of you, along with help from everyone else should be able to handle most things. But if there is an emergency then we deal with it however we need to. But the girls should be the last option.," Jack said.

Joyce nodded, "You realize they won't be able to work on any of the technology aspects while doing this?"

"I believe that is a given," Hammond said. "However, I think Jack is right. If this works it will teach both of those young ladies a valuable lesson and give them a much-needed skill set. Do you believe they will have any problems with the academic side of the course work?"

"Nope," Jack said with a smile. "Sam tested all of them after the Asgard download, Their knowledge for math, and science was fantastic."

Joyce snorted, "Don't you mean 'Out of this World', Jack?"

"Sure," Jack smiled. "Even the questions, Sam had thought were answered wrong, they were able to prove they were right. And with the new Tablets that Cordelia created, if they're smart about it, well paperwork become very easy to do."

"So that's why all of your reports are now up to date," Hammond asked.

Jack nodded with a grin. "Xander was working on voice command protocols with the Enterprise. I got him to scale it down for the tablets."

"So," Joyce said. "When do we tell the girls about this?"

"I'll make the arrangements with the Navy," Hammond said. "In fact, we may be able to play off their pride. Get them to send several veteran SEAL teams against our group. But I should know when we can start by the end of the week."

"Let's let them enjoy the rest of the week," Jack said. We can tell the others but I want the first day of training to be when they find out."

Joyce looked shock," Jack, I never knew you were so evil!" Then Joyce smiled, "Still making it a surprise will be fair considering how Surprised I was when they ran into the Asgard transport beam."

Oz was in a strange place, which was saying something since he was sitting on an alien spaceship. But he was feeling out of place because he didn't know what he should be doing. It was very obvious that Willow had moved on, and he was happy for her. But he wasn't sure what he should be doing about his own future. While he believed in the good that the Scoobies did, he had never had the driving force of Xander to fight the forces of evil. Even Buffy didn't have that inbuilt need to fight. She constantly had said how she didn't want to be the Slayer. Then she would turn right around and fight whatever Big Bad was out to get them.

Buffy had left with her Dad earlier, but Oz was still waiting to talk to the Asgard. They had ran checks on him at the same time they were examining Hank Summers. Oz looked up as two Asgard approached him.

"Daniel Osborne," The first one said, "I am Loki of the Asgard, our apologies for the delay. However, when Eir attempted to scan you, we encountered issues."

"Issues," Oz asked.

"Yes," Loki said. "We have never seen any beings like yourself. If we did not know it was impossible, I would think that your genetics had been altered well after your birth. You show signs that you are carrying mixed species genetics, but the species in question should be impossible. However, the tests do not lie, you have the full genetic structure for a lower order mammal called a 'Wolf' mixed into your genetics. But at the same time, you still have the full genetics of a human of Ancient descent."

"Werewolf," Oz said. When neither of the Asgard seemed to understand he explained. "I was bitten by a werewolf. Before I learned to control it, I would only turn into the Wolf, three nights a month. Now I control it. Lookup Earth myths on werewolves."

Loki and Eir quickly consulted a computer. Ten minutes later they came back to Oz. Loki seemed very excited, but it was Eir who asked the first question, "You said you have control of this?" Oz nodded. "Would you be willing to demonstrate?"

Oz nodded, quickly Oz removed his clothes. He silently thought it was a good thing he didn't have any hangups about being nude in front of aliens. Then he looked inward. He found his wolf, reaching out he willed the change to happen. A few minutes later he was standing in his full wolf form looking at Eir and Loki. The full wolf was something he had learned to do. Before gaining control he was only able to be a wolfman hybrid. Now he could still be a hybrid or a large wolf, with reddish brown fur.

Eir and Loki had been talking in Asgard, both had scans running. Oz closed his eyes and concentrated again becoming the wolfman. He was actually taller in this form now than he had been originally, looking down at the two Asgard scientists he said in a half growl, "Need anything else?"

"No thank you, Daniel Osborne," Loki said. "Please feel free to assume whatever shape is most comfortable for you." Oz returned to his human form.

"Now I really need some food," Oz explained. "Transforming requires energy. I need meat."

Eir nodded looking up from her scans, "I shall arrange for food to be brought to you." Eir quickly left to get what was needed.

Loki had been looking at scan data and the information on werewolves, "Daniel Osborne," Loki said.

"Oz," Oz said, "Just Oz, not Daniel Osborne."

Loki nodded his large head, "Oz, can you confirm the Earth myths that werewolves regenerate from any wound?"

Oz nodded, "After leaving Sunnydale. I was attacked by a hunter. He destroyed my left hand." Oz held up his normal left hand. "It grew back the next full moon when I changed."

Oz couldn't read Loki, but Loki looked very interested in what Oz was saying, maybe even excited. "If it would be agreeable to you Oz, I would like to gain samples of you from all three states?"

Oz looked at Loki, Willow's story had intrigued him. "I'll trade for it."

"What would you like to trade," Loki asked.

"Knowledge," Oz said. "Willow mentioned how you taught them. I want the same."

Loki was very glad Eir wasn't here to hear this request. He knew the chances of the council agreeing were almost none. But if the regenerative properties shown by Oz could be made to work for the Asgard, this alone could correct the cloning problem. And since he had helped Bragi to design the Furling interface, along with the fact that Oz had even higher percentages of Ancient DNA than O'Neill, Loki knew he could give the human what it wanted. "Agreed," Loki said. He didn't bother to add more because this human seemed very reluctant to talk. "After you have finished eating come to my lab. I will obtain the samples and then I will fulfill my part of the bargain. Use this to guide you to my lab." Loki handed Oz a small white stone. "It will glow brighter as you approach my lab and flash if you need to turn in a corridor."

Loki left to head for his lab. It wouldn't take him long to adjust one of the devices for use by Oz. But Loki was feeling a great deal of Hope. While the humans considered werewolves cursed, if it could repair the damage done it might save his people, it might even be enough to save Fenrir.

When Oz arrived almost an hour later Loki was ready. He had food set to one side in case Oz needed to eat again. He had also modified one of the ancient devices that the Asgard had used for the Scoobies to be compatible with Oz's brain. The next hour was spent as Oz transformed to all three states. Loki continued to scan him, taking blood, saliva and skin samples from all three states. Once they were done, Oz ate again, and Loki had him lay down on a bed for the knowledge transfer.

The transfer seemed to have no problems and Loki started looking over his new samples while Oz's mind attempted to assimilate the new knowledge it had just received.

It was several hours later before Buffy, Willow, and Tara who were getting ready to return to LA realized that Oz wasn't with any of them. When they asked the Asgard where Oz was, the Asgard consulted the computers and found that Oz had been with Loki for almost six hours. The other Asgard were familiar enough with Loki's past to decide it would be a good idea to accompany the Furlings to meet their friend.

As the door to Loki's lab opened, Loki looked up. The Furlings accompanied by Baldur and Eir were coming in, "Commander Baldur, how may I assist you," Loki asked.

"Where's Oz," Willow asked, looking around she spotted him reclining on a couch, much like the ones in the Asgard medical bays. "Oz," Willow called out, running over to him.

"Please do not disturb him," Loki said. "He will be asleep for approximately twenty more hours."

"What have you done Loki," Baldur asked.

"Daniel Osborne's genetic state contains the possibility of a cure for our race," Loki said. "I asked him for permission to study him and to take samples. He agreed but asked for the same knowledge that we gave to the Furlings. Since his brain was advanced enough to handle the knowledge I agreed to the exchange. He is currently recovering from the knowledge upload."

"What?" Buffy and Willow yelled.

"Loki," Baldur said. "The High Council did not authorize this."

"I am aware of that," Loki said. "However, the knowledge would have already been available to him from the Furlings. I did not give him anything more than the basics we gave them. If the High Council wishes to punish me for that, so be it. But the information was gained ethically according to all of our laws."

Baldur wished that he was not the one who had been charged with controlling Loki. However, it sounded like Loki had actually followed Asgardian ethics. Which was a great improvement from how the scientist had acted for the past several thousand years. "I will bring this before the High Council, Loki," Baldur said. "However, You will not do this again without prior authorization." Turning it Eir, who had been examining Oz, "Do you wish to move him to our medical facilities?"

"No Commander," Eir said. "Loki's lab is more than equipped to monitor him. I will set the systems to alert me if there are any problems." Turning to the Furlings she said. "Your friend will be fine, I would suggest you return tomorrow, or I will alert you if we need you before then."

The Scoobies and Hank Summers nodded as they took one last look at Oz and went back to their hotel.

Angel had made it back to the hotel without any to many problems, once back home he had tried to understand what Drusilla had done to him. He found even the smallest drop of water caused painful electrical burns which healed almost instantly. He also found that only certain things made his skin feel like he was being flayed alive. Specifically living things or things that had once been alive. He could touch rocks or metal and it was fine. But leather or wood, hurt. Silk which had been a favorite of his before was now unbearable to touch. But a one-hundred percent pure polyester didn't cause any problems which was odd because he thought it was made from oil.

Angel had tried to drink, he discovered even that was painful, not as painful as water on his skin, but still painful. Once he had swallowed the liquid in his mouth the pain stopped, eating was not as bad, but still hard to do. Angel knew he needed help, realizing that his only hope was Wesley, he called the man.

Wesley arrived almost an hour later, "Angel," Wesley said. "I'm glad you called. Although frankly I thought it would be another day or two before you did."

"Yeah," Angel said. "Sorry about that Wesley. Look I need your help. Something happened last night."

"What," Wesley asked. Although he realized if Angel had run into a real problem it would explain his calling him earlier than they thought he would.

"I ran into Drusilla and Spike last night," Angel stated.

"Good Lord," Wesley exclaimed. "How did you survive?"

Angel was torn he didn't want to tell the whole story to Wesley, but he knew the man would need information in order to try and help him. Angel finally decided to tell just as much as he absolutely had to Wesley really didn't need to know everything Drusilla said.

"Dru didn't want me dead," Angel said. "She said she wants me to suffer. She took me to Russell Winters house. And she did some kind of a spell. But it changed me."

"Tell me everything about the spell, what you saw, and heard," Wesley said taking out a notepad and pen. "Who or what was used may also be very important."

"Angel described what Drusilla had done, the death of the Mohra demon, and the young woman named Gwen who shot electricity into the demon. He explained what he understood were the terms of the curse.

"So according to Drusilla," Wesley said looking at his notes. "One hour a day water won't harm you but it will be in a random pattern?" Angel nodded. "And some materials will cause great pain, but only some of the time."

"She specifically mentioned how something like silk would be fine sometimes and painful at others," Angel said. "But I think I may have a workaround."

"What do you mean," Wesley asked.

"Dru, she was never really part of the modern world," Angel said. "And I can feel what happens when I pick up something wooden or made from something that was once alive. But Stone? Or something synthetic, those are fine. I think."

"Hm," Wesley pondered. "You may be correct. However, I would recommend waiting a few days to see if this is the case. From the sounds of your curse the materials that it is safe for you to touch without pain will change daily. If over the next few days you find that synthetic fabrics are still safe, then I believe we can safely assume that Drusilla did not take those into consideration when casting her curse." Angel nodded, what Wesley was saying made sense. "Also I will need you to try and remember anything you can about the curse, I realize you said you did not recognize the language. But if you can remember any of the sounds of the words it may help in identifying it."

"OK," Angel said. "I can try to pronounce what she said."

Wesley held up his hand, "Not yet Angel. I wish to have a recording of this so that it will be easier to try and find the language." Angel nodded Wesley had been making a lot of sense tonight. "Finally I may need to ask the help from Rupert or some of the other Watchers."

"What?" Angel said. "Why would they help you or me?"

"Rupert has asked me to come back to the council since he is now restructuring it," Wesley said. "He felt that the changes I have gone through since first arriving in Sunnydale would be of great benefit to the new council. I have agreed to work with him. And it does not matter what Rupert's personal feelings towards you may be. The fact that we know how powerful Drusilla has become means that we need to learn more about what she is capable of. So in helping you we will be preparing for the future if she decides to come after us."

Wesley had actually been very pleased after his talk with Giles. Giles had insisted that the man start referring to him as Rupert, a sign of respect and equality. Wesley had felt more approval from Rupert than he had ever received from his own Father, and was deeply touched by the gesture.

"Fine," Angel sulked. "I guess I can see your point." Once Wesley had the recording from Angel he went to his library to try and find out anything he could. He was disappointed that he did not immediately recognize the language Drusilla had spoken in, but he would take it to Rupert at the first available opportunity to see if he recognized it.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 13

Anya had been enjoying her vacation, three weeks without monsters or stupid heroes. Three weeks of indulging herself. She hadn't been celibate either since she had broken up with Xander, she felt it was perfectly fine to be with anyone she wanted to be with. Not that she was looking for anything long term. The few men she met didn't measure up to Xander in any way. Yet like all men, they thought she should be thanking them for giving her any attention. Anya had also met a few women who were interesting as well, they at least were not as big of a letdown. After over a thousand years as a justice demon, Anya knew more than most about sex. And while she was now human and couldn't put some of it to use anymore, after all, humans are very frail. She still was a qualified expert in sex.

Anya found her peaceful existence destroyed, by Entertainment Tonight. They were running a story on the son of the Earl of Kent, who apparently had been filmed performing in a California strip club. The male person had commented, "Well we know he's a man of his word. He lost a bet and paid up, we really can't fault him for that."

The female reporter responded, "I don't think we can fault him for lacking in any department." You could hear the laughter from the reporters. "I understand Playgirl is going to be offering him a full spread as an upcoming centerfold. Personally, I don't think the centerfold would be big enough to show him in all of his glory."

Off to the side a small box was showing the performance of the man in question. Anya had just brought her drink to her lips when she saw a close up of the man, "Xander," she exclaimed, dropping her drink. The drink fell on her bikini, luckily it would be easy to clean off, but still, it was another thing to blame Xander for.

Anya rushed out of the bar to hit the Hotels concierge, it took her several minutes to explain what she wanted. After the man went to obtain what she had asked for, Anya went up to her room to try and find more information on the television. After showering off to get rid of the sticky fallen drink, Anya sat on her bed flipping through channels. She was getting frustrated, no one was talking about Xander.

A knock on her door revealed it was the concierge staff. They had gathered everything they could find. Anya took it all slamming the door in their face. She sat down and started reading. "Something's not right," Anya said. "There is no way Xander is Giles son, and Tara his sister." Anya was also pissed because one of the British papers had photos of Giles when he was elevated to the nobility. Xander was shown escorting Faith. "I knew he was cheating on me with that slut! But she isn't Buffy's sister either, someone has been playing with wishes." Anya couldn't believe how unfair it was either. Whoever had made this wish, she wasn't able to see where it should be biting them on the ass.

"Hallie," Anya called out. It took her almost five minutes to get Hallie's attention. When she did appear, Anya thrust the papers at her. "Read this and tell me who made the wish."

"Well hello to you to Anyanka," Halfrek said.

"No time Hallie," Anya insisted. "I need to know who screwed me over."

Halfrek sighed, she knew Anyanka, there would be no peace until she had calmed down. Quickly going over everything and pulling information from sources available to Justice demons. They had their own information network so that they could find their clients. Halfrek looked at Anya, "Anyanka, sweetheart, there was no wish granted from any Justice demons. As near as we can tell this is the truth," Halfrek said.

"That's not possible," Anya stated. "The information on Faith, Tara and Xander is wrong, someone has screwed with reality!"

"We'll it wasn't anyone on our side," Halfrek said. "And you know the Powers wouldn't have done it. And since the other side isn't really around as an active player. If you're right then whoever did it is a complete unknown. Not to mention powerful enough to fool us."

"Call D'hoffryn," Anya said. Halfrek looked upset at the idea. "Look if I'm right he needs to know. If I'm wrong he'll mock and belittle me. Either way, you would have done the right thing by bringing it to him." Anya knew her Boss, she had been his top Justice Demon for almost a thousand years after all.

Halfrek nodded and sent out the call to D'hoffryn. He appeared a short time later, "Really Halfrek, I'm quite busy what do you need?" Anya laid out the information that she had, D'Hoffryn listened occasionally shaking his horned head. "Now this is interesting," He said. "Highly unusual and interesting at the same time. But tell me, sweet Anyanka, why did you leave Sunnydale? I understand that you were quite enamored of the mortal boy?"

That set Anya off, she started ranting about cheating males, and how he had been seeing coma girl behind her back. How he thought he was so clever sneaking into her room during the week, while he was on lunch breaks. Her rant lasted almost five minutes before D'Hoffryn interrupted her. "Anyanka," He said. "You still haven't said what made you leave." It was no longer a request, Anya gulped.

"Yes, my Lord D'Hoffryn," she said. "They were going to try and fight a fallen Angel."

"What," Screamed Halfrek.

"That's not possible," D'Hoffryn stated. "There are no more Angels, fallen or otherwise in this reality."

"I know that's what the stories say," Anya insisted. "But I went with what I knew and compared it to what they had found out." Anya then described everything that the Scoobies had learned, prior to her fleeing Sunnydale.

"Anyanka," D'Hoffryn said. "The color of the lights, if it was an Angel, means it was not one of the fallen. It would have been closer to a pure Angel. I am ordering you to go back to Sunnydale, find out what happened, and report back to me."

"Not on my life," Anya said. "I'm mortal now remember. You denied me my right to a new power source when you could have fixed it. And there is no way I am going back to certain death after you let me go."

"Oh, Anyanka," D'Hoffryn said. "You'll always be mine. But you do have a point, sending you underprepared would only be a waste of your abilities… Very well," D'Hoffryn held out his hand. "I will grant you access to some of your powers. Everything up to the Wish. You now have access to all of your other abilities. If you do well I will allow you to come back into the fold."

Anya couldn't believe it, she wouldn't be mortal anymore, and while she couldn't grant wishes, still her other powers were nothing to laugh at. "Alright, I'll do it, now give me my pendant back."

D'Hoffryn laughed, "Halfrek you are dismissed," he said, sending Halfrek away with a flick of his hand. "My sweet little Anyanka, you have only failed in one thing." He leaned down, whispering in her ear. "The power the pendant represents can never be destroyed." D'Hoffryn laughed as he disappeared.

Anya sat in her room, replaying D'Hoffryns final words to her. "What does he mean the power the pendant represents could never be destroyed? My pendant was destroyed that's why I became mortal." Anya fumed, "And he said he would grant me access to some of my powers, but he didn't leave me anything." Anya was ready to scream. It wasn't fair. She was Anyanka, not some two bit, no good, scum sucking, cheating mortal. Anya's anger continued to build until it snapped. As she let loose a scream a wave passed from her, destroying the hotel room she was in, the bed, and all of the furniture were now kindling, and Anya was standing in the center of the destroyed room as Anyanka.

Several of the hotel security staff came running at the sound of the explosion, they stopped at the partially intact door, seeing Anyanka standing there they started to scream in Spanish, "A demon, A demon." One of them turned and ran the other was to scare to move. He started praying, begging God and all the Saints to save him from the demon.

Anya stopped, he was staring at her calling her a demon, she needed a mirror. She stalked over to the remains of the bathroom. Picking up a large chunk of the broken mirror she held it up to look at herself. Anyanka laughed, "I'm me again," Turning to the security guard who was standing there gibbering in fear, and from the looks of it, he had peed his pants, Anyanka laughed again. "So no wish powers but my other ones should work," she said. "Let's check those out. You have done me a favor," She said to the guard. "It might have taken me longer to find out I was back without you and your overwhelming fear. So don't worry I'm not going to kill you." Anyanka said as she ran her hand along the guard's jaw. "However, I don't do favors for Men. So we're going to have to change something." She smiled and pushed out just a little bit of Power, the guard started screaming, he was now a she. Standing there in a uniform that was too large. And she looked younger, maybe eighteen. "So, chica," Anyanka said. "Like I said, I owe you a favor. Once you understand what scum all men are, you can call on me to help you get revenge on them." Anyanka kissed her cheek, "Remember Anyanka Patron Saint of Scorned women. Make sure you've been scorned before calling me, or I'll have to take it out on you." The guard fainted, Anyanka laughed again and decided it was time to leave. She had a cheating ex-boyfriend and his slutty new girlfriend to confront.

When D'Hoffryn had left Anyanka he went to check on the deal he had made with the Powers that Be. "Now the deal was simple, they use Anyanka to distract the boy, never really understood why they just didn't kill him. And once they were done with him Anyanka comes back home. I'm given more freedom to interpret the wishes and the Red Witch was going to be mine. A simple straight forward deal."

D'Hoffryn had been the Lord of the Justice demons for a very long time. It was a cutthroat business, and he always made sure to cover his bases. Pulling out the agreement he started picking it apart. He pulled up mirrors to look at the key players. This was something he hadn't bothered with before now. Trying to scry the various pawns of the Powers, was proving difficult. He scryed the past, he watched the Slayers life from the time she was called. He did laugh when Whistler destroyed the Summers's marriage. "Oh if only that would have shown up on Anyanka's radar, she could have killed the Slayer by granting the mother a wish."

He continued watching the show, he saw the Slayer arriving in Sunnydale. The visions started to lose focus every time the boy came into frame. D'Hoffryn frowned, "They wouldn't have," he said. "They wouldn't have dared!"

D'Hoffryn concentrated on the Red Witch, he saw the same problem, the boy distorted the images. "The amount of power he would have to possess to do that " D'Hoffryn mused as he continued to watch.

D'Hoffryn was able to watch as Skip created the situation that lead to Anyanka being summoned for Cordelia. He paused his viewing to trace Skip. He recognized him. He was basically a mercenary, working for the highest bidder. It took time but D'Hoffryn traced him back to Jasmine. "So the little Bitch that Was thinks she can take over here? Well, I think I need to ensure that she doesn't succeed." D'Hoffryn sent out a call to some of his servants to bring Skip to him for a job.

D'Hoffryn was rather pragmatic as far as demons went. He needed humans alive and more or less well. Without humans, he would actually lose power. So he like any good farmer wanted to make sure that they survived. Jasmine had already proven in the past that if she was allowed to succeed, she would destroy the humans of this world. He sighed as he realized he would have to put on a light gray hat to help make sure she didn't succeed.

The images in the mirrors didn't lie, the boy Xander was a nexus, and the Powers had played him. "I must be getting old," D'Hoffryn sighed. "Ten thousand years ago they would have never been able to fool me like this. Still, I'm aware now. So I just need to make sure this was a one-time occurrence."

The mirrors continued to play, watching Xander was painful. A human might say it was like trying to watch a scrambled cable channel. You could get some images sometimes but most of the time it was just a headache. D'Hoffryn was shocked when as the mirror split, he now had two Xanders one scrambled and the other almost clear. He paused the images and started tracing back the reason for the split. "Ferula Gemina used on a nexus. A nexus of what through?"

D'Hoffryn followed the second younger Xander, he saw him enter the heavenly realm of the Elders. He watched as he rescued the dark haired Slayer. He saw Whistler appear, and then the images went blank. "He brought up the wards," D'Hoffryn said. "It's the only answer that fits. Which means the copy of the boy was not a copy, but an Elder. And how would the Ferula Gemina bring an Elder to this dimension? It's not designed to do that. It would take a massive fluctuation in the spell, and anything that could do that would most likely kill everyone, the chance of a positive outcome in practically now existent." D'Hoffryn stopped, it all fit, the Boy was the key and only one force in existence could have caused that effect. "Chaos," he hissed. "They were playing with a Hell's be Dammed, Nexus of Chaos. And they didn't bother to tell me!"

D'Hoffryn felt a chill pass through him, if Anyanka had screwed up, it could have destroyed not only her but Arashmahaar as well. "I must stop Anyanka before she does anything," D'Hoffryn said. Gathering his power D'Hoffryn sent himself to Anyanka.

D'Hoffryn materialized in an ornate garden, there was a table in front of him, drinks were sitting there. And Anyanka was not here. D'Hoffryn reached out for his power and realized he was cut off. He could not call upon the power of his home dimension, of Arashmahaar.

"Never let them see you sweat," D'Hoffryn through to himself. Moving towards the table he said, "Well at least whoever you are you're civilized about things." Taking a seat he looked up and another being was sitting across from him. D'Hoffryn didn't recognize the form in front of him. But he recognized the flavor of the power, quite chaotic, almost pure chaos.

"D'Hoffryn," Q said, "It's been too long. Why I remember when you were just a young demon, working your way up the food chain. And look at you now. Ruler of Arashmahaar, legions of Justice demons at your beck and call."

D'Hoffryn paused before answering, this being was old and powerful, otherwise, he wouldn't be sitting here. "Why, Thank you," D'Hoffryn said. "But I'm sure you didn't intercept me to engage in small talk. Why am I here?"

Q laughed, "Ah, a classic question, one that really never gets old, or is ever answered." Q looked at D'Hoffryn. "You're here because you were going off half cocked. Running around like one of the foolish humans."

"Please," D'Hoffryn protested. "I am nothing like the humans."

"Well, if you can't see the similarities far be it for me to enumerate them," Q said. "We are talking because of a mutual concern… I believe you call them the Powers that Be."

D'Hoffryn smiled a mutual enemy that he could understand. "Why would they be a concern for myself or my demons?"

"D'Hoffryn," Q said condescendingly, "Please I know you're not a fool. But by now you know they tried to play you for one. Pitting you against a Nexus of Chaos? Worst case scenario you and all of your forces are destroyed. And the best outcome, for you anyway, results in minor gains. Now I ask you does that seem like a Just outcome to you?"

D'Hoffryn couldn't stop himself from snarling, "Make your case."

Q shook his head, "D'Hoffryn you disappoint me. I don't need to make my case, any more so than I need to try and increase my own power. It will happen on its own. But tell me do you ever indulge in watching the Humans entertainment called television?"

Where was this going? D'Hoffryn thought. "No, I can't say I have, why is it something you would recommend?"

"Just an idle question," Q said. "Still I quite enjoy it. But please you're not eating I would hate to have you think I am a poor host."

D'Hoffryn gingerly picked up one of the sandwiches that had been placed on the table. Biting into it, he was surprised, "This is rather delicious," D'Hoffryn said.

Q smiled, "I know isn't it? But I realize you're a very busy demon. After all, you have an entire plane to oversee, at least until Anyanka causes it to be destroyed."

D'Hoffryn almost choked, "What!"

Q shook his head, "Really D'Hoffryn, what do you think is going to happen? Anyanka will go up against the Nexus, she'll lose."

"There is no guarantee that Anyanka will lose," D'Hoffryn said.

"D'Hoffryn, Xander's much more powerful now than he ever was before. Anyanka will never stand a chance. And once he follows her powers back to you, well how well do you think you'll do battling a nexus in Arashmahaar, if you manage to kill him, his death will result in what exactly?" Q took a drink of his tea while waiting for D'Hoffryn to answer.

D'Hoffryn through, there was no way the upstart nexus could defeat him, but destroying him would have vastly unpleasant consequences. No matter where the battle took place, but destroying him while they were in Arashmahaar, if he survived he would have nothing left, the magic of his home would be forever altered. "I will order Anyanka to leave the boy alone," D'Hoffryn said. "Then the problem will never come up."

Q laughed at him, "Oh that's funny. You are forgetting your little contract with the Powers. You can't order Anyanka to leave him alone. And you know as well as I that until the contract is fulfilled you can't kill her. She's not fully owned by you anymore."

D'Hoffryn was getting desperate, this being was correct. And damn his own hubris, he had told Anyanka himself that she had always had access to her powers she just hadn't figured it out. D'Hoffryn ground his teeth together as he attempted to smile at Q, "Do you happen to have any recommendations?"

"I might have one or two thoughts," Q admitted. "For a price, I might even share them with you."

D'Hoffryn seethed, he was stuck, he could go forward and die at the hands of the Nexus, or if he won he would lose everything, which made death more palatable. "What is your price?"

"Now don't be like that old friend," Q said. "It's really not something that will harm you. In fact, I think after you examine the opportunities a bit more closely you'll find that you will actually gain more power than your perceived loss."

D'Hoffryn didn't believe a word of what Q was saying, demons just didn't act that way. "Tell me," He commanded, then realizing what he was talking to grunted out, "Please?"

"My price is two fold and a condition," Q said. "One your Justice demons will no longer simply grant a wish, they'll present two options for the client to choose from. If the client chooses neither well too bad."

"Do you know how many clients we'll lose?" D'Hoffryn screamed. "Unacceptable."

"D'Hoffryn, humans are very easy," Q said. "Your Justice demons will have to work to make at least one of the choices more appealing to the client. I'm sure if they take the time to study the humans they'll quickly get the hang of it." Q paused for another drink. "My second piece is based on your solution. And it will cost you one of your wholly owned Justice demons, their life becomes my property."

D'Hoffryn snorted, "Fine one demon is nothing to me. Now, what is the condition?"

"The Furlings are returning to power, you will not allow any of your Justice demons to hinder their return,' Q said.

D'Hoffryn furrowed his brow, "How? Nevermind, it's not important right now. If they return I am sure that the Powers will move against them. I agree to your terms, as long as it solves the problem. Now tell we what you propose as a solution."

"If Anyanka is no longer tied to you," Q said. "The Nexus will not follow her back to you and Arashmahaar. But who would be willing to take her off your hands? I mean everyone knows what a loyal and valuable servant she has been to you. If you tried to foist her off on someone else, well they would look into why you were doing that."

D'Hoffryn ground his teeth again, at this rate he would need to regrow them soon. But the answer was simple and elegant, unfortunately, it was also impossible to do. No one would take Anyanka off his hands. Not without looking into everything, and unless they were a complete fool, which the beings who would have to take her, were not, he was still stuck with Anyanka. "That solves the problem without solving it," D'Hoffryn said conceding that the being in front of him held the upper hand and had won this round.

"Oh, don't be a brooding Angel," Q said. "I wouldn't play you like that. In general, I like you D'Hoffryn. You produce a decent if not a spectacular amount of chaos. I just want you producing more. And you can't do that for me if you're gone. So to solve your problem you need to get rid of Anyanka's soul. But no one who you have thought of would take her with how things stand. But I'm going to do you a solid, I'll take her and her friend Halfrek off your hands. After all, our deal gives me one other Justice demon from your stables. And I always felt Halfrek was a little too soft for the bloody vengeance, sorry justice that she's tried to do."

Damn him, D'Hoffryn thought, it would work and it was perfect. This being thrived on Chaos, a Nexus could only enhance him, and it gets me free and clear. But I have to give up Halfrek, although Q was right, she was never as bloody as his other servants. Oh, she tried, but her heart just wasn't in it. "I believe we have a deal," D'Hoffryn said.

"Excellent," Q said. "Now let's get the formalities out of the way."

D'Hoffryn nodded and summoned Halfrek and Anyanka to him. Both women appeared, startled to find themselves in an unfamiliar place.

Anya looked at D'Hoffryn sitting across from someone she recognized, "Q?" She said, "But you're not real? I mean Xander loves those shows but it's just make believe."

D'Hoffryn heard Anyanka's outburst and smiled, at least he knew where to look for a clue. This television, even then he knew this Q would have known Anyanka would recognize him, so he probably wouldn't learn much. "Anyanka, Halfrek," D'Hoffryn said. "You both gave your souls to me long ago. And you have served me well. Anyanka you have been my best Justice demon, you made entire contents run with blood. I have always enjoyed your work. Halfrek, you fought your very nature to reap bloody justice, it made the pain you inflicted even sweeter to savor."

Both women knew this couldn't be good, D'Hoffryn did not hand out compliments, ever.

"However, with time all things will change," D'Hoffryn said. "Anyanka, Halfrek, I give you to your new master. He owns your souls from henceforth. I reject all claim upon them now and forever, in favor of his ownership. Serve him well." D'Hoffryn bowed to Q and left, reappearing in his palace in Arashmahaar, D'Hoffryn summoned his remaining Justice demons to himself. It was time to explain the new rules regarding clients choice.

Anyanka and Halfrek both felt something tear within them. They lost their demon form but not the power. Or rather they lost their current demonic form. Instead of wrinkles and leathery skin, they both glistened, as their skin grew taunt, instead of looking half dead and decomposing, the looked full of life granted the multiple colors they now sported were definitely different.

"Ah Anya, Hallie," Q said. "I think this will be the start of a beautiful relationship. Now I know you're wondering, 'Why me?' Well, don't you worry your pretty little heads about that? It basically comes down to a few things. Anya, Xander did like and care for you. And it would damage something inside of him when he would be forced to kill you." Anya looked like she was about to argue. "I know Anya, you're thinking, ' _Xander is powerless_ ' Sorry you're wrong. Xander is many things, a Nexus of Chaos, a Furling, you could even call him half disappearing one. But he is not now nor has he ever been powerless."

Anya felt fear, vast amounts of fear, as Q said what Xander was. Nexus of Chaos, it would have been safer for her to just feed herself alive to anyone of several demonic species than to mess with that. And Half Fallen Angel, when, how, oh shit she would have been dead. Anya was standing there opening and closing her mouth.

"I know," Q said. "But as I said, Xander did and still does care about you. So I want him to be happy which right now means you need something to distract you from him. And I know about your special relationship with Hallie. You've been girlfriends for how many centuries?"

"Off and on about six," Hallie answered.

"Yes," Q said. "That's a long time to deny your deeper feelings. Well if Anya is going to be happy in her new role, she needed you, Hallie. So I made sure you were part of the deal. Don't get me wrong you have excellent qualifications and I'm sure that both of you will quickly come up to speed."

"What is our new job," Anya asked. "Not that I'm not thrilled to have been traded like a cheap bottle of wine by D'Hoffryn. But I'd like to know what's expected of me."

"Anya," Q said. "I'll tell you what, I know a great guy, in fact, he's Xander's Uncle. I'm going to send you both to him to learn the ropes. Now just remember, no killing, or maiming him, he has his use. Aside from that, well that's pretty much it. Although if you want to give him your Mexico special that could be fun but not as a permanent change. In fact, I may have you do that, then you could be Q's Angels. Of course, that leaves me without a Bosley. Oh Well, make sure you tell Ethan if he can't find a third Angel he'll need to take her place."

Somewhere on Earth Ethan Rayne felt a cold hand run up his spine. Somewhere, somehow Ethan knew someone was going to do something to him that he wasn't going to enjoy. He turned around trying to spot what had him targeted. He was in his current flat. It wasn't much but it kept him under the Radar. He had been planning to head back to Sunnydale to 'talk' with Ripper. But the disaster prevented him from getting through. And now Ripper was the new Earl of Kent, and he had children?

Ethan knew chaos, he loved it. He also knew that he had never had a sister, half or otherwise. And he also knew that he had one now. He could remember having a lot of fun with Jess, she had a decent sense of humor before she went to shite with Tony. And he remembered little Xander as a toddler, which he also knew had never happened. Anyone normal would have probably gone insane. Ethan was far from normal, he had given himself to Chaos and Janus in that order. So his brain just accepted what was there. This was probably why he didn't even bat an eye as Halie and Anya appeared on his bed. They were dressed in lingerie, complete with Angel wings. "Well you two might look like Angels," Ethan said. "I think you're rather naughty. So how about we get naughty together?" As Ethan was talking he had started to remove his shirt. After all one should pass up such a beautiful opportunity as this, just because the birds came out of nowhere. If they were demons sent to kill him he would be dead anyway.

"Anya," Hallie asked looking at the man taking off his clothes. "What's a Mexico special?"

Anya smiled, "Let me show you, Hallie." Anya stood up and walked over to Ethan. As she touched his cheek he smiled, right until she transformed him, then Ethan screamed and fainted. "That's a Mexico special," Anya explained to Hallie.

"Oh," Hallie said. "Well she looks much better this way."

Wesley was sitting with Rupert and all of the Furlings, or the New and Improved Scoobies as Xander called them. He had brought Angel's problem to Rupert, and they had been working in it. Whilst Rupert had identified the words that Angel repeated as Enochian, he had also stated that Angel had been spouting gibberish. Wesley looked out the window, the Earth turned below them, he found the view literally breathtaking. He had forgotten to breath when he was first shown it.

"I hate to say it," Xander said. "But maybe we are looking at this the wrong way."

"What do you mean," Giles asked.

"Well first, we're assuming that Angel told Wesley the truth," Xander said. "And we all know from experience that Angel won't say anything that makes him look bad if he can avoid it."

Wesley was about to voice his objection to that statement when Buffy started talking first. "It's true," Buffy said. "Just look at him and the Master's cave, he knew I assumed he brought Xander down. He never said one word to contradict my assumptions. He just took credit for anything that made him look good."

"Surely you are not calling him a liar or a braggart," Wesley said.

"Angel lies through omission," Willow said. "When he first contacted Buffy, he didn't say he was a vampire. He let her assume he was a normal guy just trying to help her out. He'll leave out details that don't show him in a positive light."

"And right now," Giles said. "We are all operating under the assumption that Drusilla is an evil vampiress. But it is obvious from our sources she is no longer a vampire. In fact, she has the power equivalent to one-third of the fates. And has she actually done anything to attack us? Or any of our Allies?"

"Well she did attack Angel," Cordelia said.

"Did she really," Joyce asked. "He was not killed, he was altered from a normal human being into what he is now. But if anything I would say that her 'Curse' was designed to punish someone who she felt had done her wrong."

"What did Angel ever do to Drusilla," Wesley asked. "I can understand her wanting to curse Angelus, but not Angel. As far as I know he has never raised a hand against Drusilla except to protect himself."

"Omission," Tara said. "Sins of Omission. Angel is guilty of Sins of Omission. So he never did anything to Drusilla. If she has her original soul, then the omission might have been that he never stopped the vampire who had taken over her body."

"That makes entirely too much sense," Xander said. "I mean, I love you all, but if a vampire took you over I would stake you in a heartbeat. Or at least orb you into the Sun. But there would be no way I would let you run around causing havoc in my friend's corpses."

"I am afraid that all of this is speculation," Giles said. "Unless we can talk to Drusilla we are frankly sitting in the dark as to her motives."

Cordelia gasped, "Xander," she said. "You have to call her."

"Who? Drusilla?" Xander said in disbelief.

"Yes Dufus," Cordelia said. Cordelia grabbed her tablet and wrote something. "There it's on your tablet. Call her now."

"Is this really a good idea," Giles asked. "This is Drusilla we are talking about, Drusilla the Mad in case you've forgotten."

"If he calls," Cordelia said. "She'll answer. If someone else does she won't. Simple as that."

"The question is are we really wanting answers," Tara said. "Because we can get them, but are we too afraid to listen to them."

"Look we already know Harmony isn't evil anymore," Cordelia said. "Yes she's a carnivorous meat-eating skank, but she's not evil. Giles what kind of a person was Drusilla before she became a vampire?"

Giles cleared his throat, "Ah, yes. She had dedicated her life to God. Angelus killed all of her family whilst she was preparing to enter a convent and live her life as one of the sisters. He turned her the same night she would have taken her vows."

"That's horrible," Willow said.

"And Spike," Cordelia prompted. "What was he like."

"He was a poet," Giles admitted. "And from the stories a bit of a nancy boy."

"Spike was gay," Xander asked. In surprise.

"Not as far as we know," Giles clarified. "He was simply a bit effeminate and clung to his mother's skirts. What we might call an overly sensitive boy."

"Do either of those two sounds like imminent threats," Cordelia asked.

"Even if they were," Faith said. "We have two Slayers, a half elder, a werewolf, a bard, a healer, one of the fates, and four witches of various power, and Wesley. I think we could take them."

Everyone agreed when put in those terms. Xander dialed the number that Cordelia had sent him. The phone hadn't even rang once before Drusilla answered. "Oh, Kitten," Drusilla said. "I knew my baby sister would convince you to call."

"AH, Hi Drusilla," Xander said.

"Kitten," Drusilla chided. "For you, I'll always be Dru. Now I know you have questions. My William and I are waiting you can bring us to you or come to us. Either is fine. Although I think your Princess would prefer us being there." Faith had a dark look on her face from listening to Drusilla. "Now Princess," Drusilla said. "Don't frown at me, I love your Angel too. He saved me just like he saved you. But I promise I shan't make any overtures to him alone. If ever we find ourselves in bed together you will be with us." Drusilla laughed a throaty, earthy laugh. "Now Kitten which shall it be? You really must decide."

Xander nodded, "Enterprise."

"Yes Captain," The Enterprise responded.

"Lock onto the signal from my tablet and transport the two of them here," Xander said.

Everyone heard Drusilla laugh again, "Oh it tingles," she said as she was transported into the room with them. Drusilla and Spike stood to one side of the room, both had tans and looked healthy. "Kitten," Drusilla cried out in delight. "She ran over to Xander and hugged him. This had both Buffy and Faith out of their seats. Moving towards Drusilla. Spike just stood and watched. As Buffy and Faith got close enough Drusilla let Xander go and grabbed the two of them into a hug as well. "Oh my, what pretty Princesses you are," Drusilla said. She kissed Buffy on the cheek and let her go. Then turning completely to Faith she said, "I told you, Princess, I'll never try and take him without you," Drusilla kissed Faith on the mouth then let her go. "Baby Sister," Drusilla clapped her hands and ran to hug Cordelia.

Cordelia held her off for a moment saying, "No tongue, Drusilla" Drusilla pouted and kissed Cordelia chastely on the lips. When everyone was looking at Cordelia she said, "What? It was the easiest way to get her to calm down. Geez, grow up people."

"So," Xander said, not knowing where to start.

Drusilla laughed, "Oh my Tiger, don't be shy. You wanted to know about the nasty Angel-beast."

"Yes," Wesley said. "We would appreciate it if you would help us understand why you cursed him."

"Because the Bloody Bastard deserved it," Spike said. "He was cursed with a soul, he knew what the demons did. Did he try and make amends. No, the bloody ponce just sat and brooded. He could have taken us all out. Killed the demons, instead, he first tried to act like nothing had changed then he ran. You lot know how many people we killed during that time?"

No one said anything, they really couldn't answer. "Over one hundred years, Spike and Drusilla killed more than forty-thousand people," A very serious Drusilla said. "Forty-thousand lives cut short because of that coward. He was too afraid to even try to fix his mistakes."

"Oh my," Giles said. "I don't think we've ever tried to add up the numbers for people killed by vampires."

"OI," Spike said. "You lot have no idea. Dru and me, we see them all. Know every face, know how afraid they were when we killed them. And that's not even counting the ones killed by the ones we made. The first thing we did after Africa was hunt all of them down. Every single one of them and any they had made are gone."

"Well," Wesley said. "I believe that is a good thing you did if I may say so. You put them to rest."

"Little Wesley," Drusilla said. "Their souls were already at rest, we simply destroyed the demons."

"So you cursed Fang because he didn't do the same," Faith asked.

Drusilla smiled at her, "Angel lives in fear. He is so afraid he doesn't even try."

"That is incorrect," Wesley said. "Angel has been fighting the good fight in Los Angeles. He has been helping people."

Spike snorted, "No he's been fighting the safe fight. He might end up in a scrap, but it's not because he tries to fight things tougher than him, now is it?" Spike pointed to Xander, "Him, even when he was nothing, he stood up to us all. He threw himself into the ' _Good Fight_ ' and he scared Angel."

"How did Xander scare Angel," Willow asked.

"Because he was a mirror," Drusilla said. "A mirror that showed what a real hero was, what a real man did. He was afraid my Tiger would steal his Slayer. He was afraid she would see a real man and leave him. So he hid in the shadows to make himself bigger."

"Whilst I can understand your reasoning," Giles said. "Why did you not let him simply live out his life as a human? He was powerless and if he chose to fight at that point he would have proven himself changed."

Drusilla laughed," Oh, the Bard speaks but he does not think. Think kind sir. Angel had been chosen by the Powers. Do you believe they would not have worked to get him back? He would have been turned and cursed again within the week."

"So you cursed him instead," Buffy asked. "To deny him to the Powers?"

"We can't deny him to the Powers yet," Drusilla said. "They still are trying to move us around like pieces on a board. Only my sweet Tiger can stop their games. No, I made sure that he would still be available for them to play with, but that now he will truly suffer. He has almost everything he ever wanted. Strength greater than a vampire. He no longer has to worry about being hurt. He will heal from anything. He will always have a weapon at hand, so he will never be unarmed. He can walk in the sun, eating and drinking to his heart's content. I gave him everything he wanted, and made certain he would not have the one thing he needed."

"He's alone," Joyce said. "Even surrounded by people, he can never really touch them or be with them."

"Why," Buffy asked. "Are you that angry at him?"

"Forty-thousand people Slayer," Spike said. "Men, Women and Children, Forty-Thousand."

"He was seeking redemption," Drusilla said. "But my Tiger said it best, he has to stop seeking to find it. He'll most likely brood for a few hundred years, then maybe he'll wake up. And if any of you tell him the truth it won't help. But please feel free to try," Drusilla smiled a knowing smile as she finished speaking.

The air was quiet for a moment as everyone tried to absorb what Drusilla and Spike had said.

"What are you," Willow asked. "I mean you're not the same Drusilla and Spike anymore, so what are you?"

Drusilla laughed, "We're Family," she said. "Just look at my Baby Sister. My wonderful Tiger Kitten, The two Princesses, and the two Brides,The Mother, The Father, and The Queen to Be. Then there are all of our cousins." Turning to Cordelia, "And I expect you to take good care of our Niece!"

"Think of us as what you get when the demon and the soul are forced to merge," Spike said. "For me, it happened quick. For Dru, she still fights to keep the demon at bay. I'm more the son of William Pratt and Spike the Bloody than either of them. William wasn't a saint, but he loved his Mum, she was his whole world. And he tried to be good. Spike he loved to brawl and never backed down. He was a vicious Bugger. My Dru, she was as close to a saint as you'd find. But her demon was broken as much by Angelus as by trying to take over the body of a saint. She's the better of us two."

"What are your plans for the future," Joyce asked.

"Plans are for the Powers," Drusilla said. "You know what's coming. Right now they're scared. My Tiger has thrown their plans to the winds. So they are waiting to see what comes next. We only have so much time until it will be too late. If we choose wisely, we win. If we don't the world burns."

"So no pressure then," Xander said.

"Am I to understand that you wish to stand with us," Giles asked.

"We're Family," Drusilla said.

"Don't matter if we're with you here or not," Spike said. "We'll be fighting the same fight. Be better with people to watch our backs."

"Now," Drusilla said. "I know you wish to talk about us. So shall we wait over with the little gray men? You can have them poke and prod us. So that you understand, we are family."

"I'll take them over to Eir," Amy said. "I don't think I could help with this and frankly I'd rather not try and decide something like this."

"I'll go with Amy," Jono said. "She's right. You've already given me a new life. We know where I was heading with Warren and Andrew. So I think you'll make the right choice."

Xander nodded, signaling the Bautarsteinn the four were transferred over.

For the next several minutes everyone sat in stunned silence. "OK I got nothing," Xander admitted. "I mean seriously, nothing. Because that wasn't Drusilla the crazy vampire or Spike the 'I'm going to rip your head off and shit down your neck' vampire."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "But can we trust them? I mean look what they did to Angel?"

"Forty-thousand, Ms. Summers," Wesley said. "And I actually think they were underestimating the amount. But a vampire will, in general, eat once every day or every other day. So times one hundred by three hundred and sixty-five days. Add in a few extra to round it up for the nights when they killed more. It's very easy to see where they came up with the number. Irregardless, they were right. If Angel had killed them when he was cursed with his soul forty thousand people would have lived. And any descendant they might have had."

"I must say," Giles added. "I do not believe I ever stopped to think about the people that are saved when we kill a vampire. But I am afraid Wesley is right, Buffy. Spike and Drusilla are accepting responsibility for what their demons did. However, they also acknowledge that if Angel had acted many lives would have been saved."

I just hope I'm not really sisters with the Crazy one," Cordelia said. "I mean really, no thanks."

"I don't know," Faith said. "I can sort of see a resemblance."

"You take that back," Cordelia said. "How could you say something like that? Take it back right now!"

Faith smiled, "Chill Cordelia, I'm just messing with you."

"I think we need to give them a chance," Joyce said. "They are not vampires with souls. They're living breathing people. And they deserve to be judged by what they do, not by what the demons did."

"Wesley, Cordelia," Buffy said. "Do you two think Angel deserves it? What she did to him?"

"I never really thought about Angel's past," Cordelia admitted. "Yeah, he had the whole Psycho thing with losing his soul. But I didn't think about how many people he killed while he was on the loose. I mean that was what six months? One person a night at least because you know Angelus wouldn't hold himself back; So that would be one-hundred and eighty people he killed just a few years ago. But he never mentions them, never acknowledged that if he hadn't gone after an impressionable underage girl, all of that might have been avoided. He blames the curse or the gypsies. But never himself, oh don't get me wrong, he'll call Angelus evil. But not anything that He, Angel has actually done."

"Edmund Burke said it best ' _The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing_ '. And can a man be good if he does nothing," Wesley asked? "I have thought of Angel as my friend, but even I must admit in light of the information Drusilla and Spike have given us, I can not excuse his inaction." Wesley sighed, "He stood by and allowed evil to thrive. I know my own history is less than stellar. But even with all the mistakes I made; I was trying to do good. I was simply a complete ass."

"Whilst I feel it is not my place to curse Angel," Giles said. "If I am completely honest, I find his punishment to be a better form of Justice than that which Janna's tribe inflicted him with. From what we understand, the Powers will attempt to continue using him. And he will be fighting for them. But he will be in essence devoid of human contact. He can talk to people and interact with them but never be as one of them. It is strangely fitting."

"Make sure I never piss Drusilla off," Willow said. "I mean the amount of thought that had to go into his punishment? Not to mention the sheer power? I think we definitely want her on our side."

"She said she already is," Faith said. "Remember Spike said we're in the same fight. They'd just like to join up so we can watch each other's backs."

Buffy sighed, "I just don't know. I mean part of me still wants to think that Angel is this 'Noble Hero'. Even when my brain knows he's not, and he's never been one. It just hurts. Can we talk about something else? Please?"

"Well, the scan finished," Xander said. "And it came up with some interesting results."

"How interesting Xander," Giles asked.

"Interesting like there is a shielded outpost in Antarctica. According to the computers, it's from the Ancients," Xander answered. "It has almost no power thought. So unless we build some generators, I don't think it will do much."

"Remarkable," Giles said. "The question is do we tell the American and British Governments?"

"Without a power source," Tara said. "It will be almost useless to them. But it would be something to distract them and prove that having us as allies is a good idea. It will be proof that we will help them."

"It would be like giving a toddler a calculus book," Willow said. "Even if they figure something out, there'd be so much they overlook. Plus we can eventually help them understand or at least our students can help them."

"What about the Island," Faith asked. "Find anything good there?"

"Strangely enough," Xander said. "The islands have a few goodies, Larimar which is a very rare gemstone, silver and platinum deposits on Asgard. Free Jaffa has Larimar and platinum but no silver. And Tau'ri has silver and platinum. Plenty of fruit trees growing on the islands too. From the collection, I'd say some of the early shipwrecks and people trying to colonize it brought stuff they liked and it ended up growing wild. And I didn't set the resolution for life forms to be very high, but we may have wild boar on the islands as well."

"So all I need from you Xander," Willow said. "Is an updated topographical map of Tau'ri and tomorrow we can start building. All of us have been working on modifying the Tok'ra crystals. And within the week, we're going to have the streets built. Complete with utility tunnels. And the best part is that the crystal allows natural light to shine through, our tunnels will never be vamp friendly."

Joyce cleared her throat. "I'm so glad to hear that Willow," she said. "However, Buffy and Faith are going to be busy on a new project starting tomorrow. So please don't plan on them having any time available to help for the next month."

"What?" "Mom?" Were the cries from her daughters.

"Don't worry girls. It will be something you'll enjoy." _Eventually, you'll even thank me for it_. She thought. Outloud Joyce said, "Just take the rest of today and enjoy it."

Buffy looked worried, _This can't be good! Mom looks too pleased with herself._ Faith was not used to having a mother that actually cared about her so she did not recognize the danger signs.

Faith walked over to Cordelia, "So Cordy, sounds like I'll be gone for about a month."

"Yeah," Cordelia said.

"I'd like it if you would go out with me and Xander tonight," Faith said slightly rushed.

"What like on a date," Cordelia asked.

"Yup," Faith said. "A date, you, me and Boytoy. We'll have dinner and maybe do some dancing, but just a date between us three. So what do you say?"

Cordelia's mouth answered before her brain caught up with it. "I'd like that," her traitorous mouth said.

"Great," Faith said. "We'll pick you up at three. Xander said I have to wear a dress for this because it's someplace really top scale. So see you at three." Faith kissed Cordelia before she left.

 _What just happened_? Cordelia's brain asked itself. _We just agreed to go on a date with Faith and Xander at the same time_ , her brain answered. _When did we decide we liked Faith too. And that we would be willing to share him?_ Cordelia asked. _I think it was right after she offered, But it was definitely after we saw him naked._ "Oh," Cordelia said out loud. "I had better go get ready." Cordelia left to go home.

Everyone watched Cordelia leave, Oz was the only one who spoke up, "Huh, Never saw that coming," he said. Buffy and Willow just nodded their heads in agreement.

Drusilla and Spike were almost model patients. Eir onboard the Bautarsteinn, was performing what was quickly becoming the standard scans for anyone the Furlings brought up. Amy and Jonathan were watching and trying to talk to them. Neither had had contact with the two when they were vampires.

"So," Amy said, "Why are you calling Cordelia your little sister? I mean she's not really your sister."

"Wrong," Drusilla said. "We're sister, and the lovely gray men will tell her soon different as different can be. But we are two of three."

"Wow," Amy said. "So please don't take offense but you're still crazy aren't you?"

"She's more like one of the kids that just has to act a certain way," Spike said. When Amy and Jonathan looked at him in surprise he said. "Oi, just cause I was the Big Bad doesn't mean I didn't read. Gets right boring sitting inside all day. And if I didn't have a teli well I had to make do didn't I."

"So she's like OCD," Jonathan asked.

"No idea what that means mate," Spike said.

"Oh," Drusilla clapped her hands. "Kitten's princess has asked my baby sister to go to the ball with them!" She turned to Amy. "You need to go, my baby sister will be worrying something fierce. So go and help her calm down and tell her the white lace gown that she didn't use for meeting the Queen, would be best for tonight. And tell her I expect to hear all about her night after she comes home."

"What does that mean?" Amy asked. "I get that Cordelia is her baby sister. And I think Xander is the kitten. So who is the princess?"

"Faith," Jonathan said. "Faith is Xander's Princess."

"So Faith asked Cordelia to go on a date with her and Xander," Amy asked.

Drusilla smiled, "Well of course they did."

"And this isn't weird to anyone else," Amy asked Jonathan and Spike.

"I've been with my Dru for over a hundred years," Spike admitted. "Loved her from the first time I saw her. And she's much easier to understand now."

"I'm with weird," Jonathan said. "But I think you can believe her."

"So I should go," Amy asked.

Jonathan nodded, "I'll be fine with them, what could happen here, I mean we're on the Bautarsteinn, not in Sunnydale."

Amy left, Drusilla turned to Jonathan, "And you young man," she said in a stern voice. "What are your intentions towards my niece?"

Jonathan was floored, "Ah who's your niece?"

"My sweet little Unicorn," Drusilla said. "Harmony, I know you've put her in a family way. So what are your intentions?"

"Harmony, Pregnant? Oh God no," Jonathan said. "Please tell me she's joking? Please? I don't even really like her, she's shallow and vapid and won't leave me alone! Please God don't let her be pregnant, Please?"

Amy was transported back to the Chase Mansion, she could hear Cordelia rummaging around in the Master bedroom. She headed towards the noise. "So Drusilla says you have a hot date with Xander and Faith," Amy said.

"Gah," Cordelia said coming out of her walk in closet. "How do you know about that?"

"I didn't Drusilla just said I needed to come help you get ready. And that she would want all the details from you after the date," Amy answered.

Cordelia was looking stunned, "How could she know… Of course, she could know. So did she have anything else to say?"

Amy nodded, "She said you should wear the white lace evening gown."

Cordelia thought for a minute, "Oh that's perfect!" She ran back into her closet to get the gown in question.

"Wow," Amy said. "That's gorgeous." Cordelia nodded in agreement. "So when did you decide to take Faith up on her offer?" Amy asked.

"I really don't know," Cordelia said. "I mean she asked me and I answered, but I hadn't even thought about it. I mean I've never even wanted to go out with another girl. And it's Faith. A year ago I would have said you'd see me dead before I went back out with Xander, let alone go on a date with him and another girl. Am I doing the right thing?"

Amy looked at Cordelia, "Let me ask you this; If you didn't have to think about or worry about whatever anyone else would think. Would you want to go out with Faith and Xander?"

Cordelia tried to think about it like Amy suggested, finally she said, "Yes, I guess I would. Xander's Xander. There is not a better man out there. And Faith is wild and funny, but she hides a lot too, just like me."

"So that's your answer," Amy said. "Of course all the men, lesbians and bi girls are going to be crushed if they ever learn that you weren't secretly in the closet having wild cheerleader orgies all during high school."

Cordelia started to laugh as she felt the tension leave her. "OK, not that I'm not grateful but why are you here?"

"Drusilla said you'd need my help," Amy said. "So what time are they picking you up?"

"Three," Cordelia answered. "Which means I have two hours to get ready."

"Alright," Amy said. "You go get showered and shaved, ah, don't look at me like that. You want to look and feel your best tonight. Then when you come out you and I will do your hair and makeup. You're going to knock them both dead when they see you."

Cordelia nodded and went to do exactly as Amy had said. Then next two hours had them getting Cordelia looking and feeling better than she had in a long time. She felt special, again she was Cordelia Chase dammit.

At five minutes to three the door rang. "Well at least Xander didn't just orb in," Cordelia said.

"OK," Amy said. "You wait here. I'll let them in then you do the staircase entrance."

Cordelia nodded she could feel butterflies in her stomach. But she knew it was an excited nervousness. "Whoever is listening out there, I really hope this goes right tonight. So please don't let anything screw this up?"

Cordelia went to the door, exited the master bedroom, pausing at the top of the stairs, she saw Faith was dressed in one of the gowns that they hadn't used for Giles ceremony. She looked amazingly hot. Xander was in his suit and looked good. Both of them stopped talking as she walked down the stairs.

"Wow Queen C," Faith said. "You look, wow."

"I think I have to agree with Faith," Xander said. "You look amazing. We brought this for you." Xander held up a corsage, Cordelia could tell it subtly matched Faiths own corsage and Xander's boutonniere.

"Thank you," Cordelia said. "So where are we going tonight? You didn't tell me earlier."

"Well Faith and I were talking and we decided that since you gave up your dream of being a movie star, you should still get to go to the Oscars at least once," Xander said.

"You're joking right," Cordelia said. "I mean how could you even get tickets this late?"

"Cordelia," Faith said. "We're all on first name basis with Queen, and if we asked we could meet with the President. So we decided to get you something special. We talked to the President's social secretary. They got us the tickets. Now we just need to get over to the British embassy and the Limo will take us to the red carpet. Then we can sit and eat, watch the show. And afterward, we'll see where we end up."

"Are we going to be stuck with bodyguards tonight?" Cordelia asked.

"You've met my Dad right," Faith asked. "Of course he is going to have at least one SGC team watching us. And I think he snuck in some of the spooks as waiters and waitresses. But don't worry about it. If we need them, it's good to have them, and if we don't then we'll never see them."

Cordelia nodded as Xander signalled the Enterprise to beam them up.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 14

Cordelia was in heaven, after arriving at the British Embassy, a stretch limo took the three of them to the Oscars. Exiting the limo Xander was in the middle as the three of them walked down the red carpet. Faith had his right arm and Cordelia his left. Photographers were snapping pictures of the well-dressed trio. Cordelia had her biggest, brightest smile on the entire time.

Entering the theater, they were guided to one of the tables near the front just to the left of the podium. The table was obviously designed to have a good number of people sitting at it. Cordelia looked at Xander, "Do you know who will be sitting with us?"

Xander shook his head as he held out Cordelia's seat, Once she had been seated he did the same for Faith. "No idea Cordy," Xander said. "But I'm sure that it will be fun."

For Cordelia the night was magical. She was sitting at a table with some of the hottest names in Hollywood. Billy Crystal was fantastic as the host. The food was good, but not as great as she thought it would be. Xander was over the moon, Bruce Campbell sat at the table with them. He himself seemed surprised to have been asked to come. But he was a genuinely funny guy.

Bruce did rib Xander about his internet success as Captain Giles. "Normally, kid," Bruce said. "You need to be at least a star of my caliber before you can try to get away with dating two beautiful ladies like you're doing now. I mean where's the justice? You should have to pay your dues first."

Faith said, "Trust me, he's more than paid his dues. Plus he's not dating the two of us, we're dating Cordelia here."

Bruce stopped for a minute, "OK, now I know that the world is run by someone truly demented. But kid, good for you. Just make sure you treat them right. So what do you do when you're not being Captain Giles?"

Cordelia laughed, "Actually being Captain Giles takes up more time than you might imagine."

"Definitely," Faith agreed. "I mean he has a whole ship to run and a crew to discipline. The spankings alone can take hours and hours to finish."

Bruce almost choked as Faith added the last part with a devilish smile. Xander had a slight blush, his time with Anya had desensitized him to most of the things that used to make him blush. But he was sitting at a table with 'Ash, the Chin' himself, it did have an effect on him.

"Wow, that was well said Faith," Bruce said. "I can see she helps keep you on your toes. And getting sent here last minute by my agent was definitely worth it if only for the company tonight."

Xander nodded, "Without Faith, I think my life would be so much worse. And she's the one who brought Cordelia back into it." Bruce raised a questioning eyebrow. "Cordelia was the one who got away in high school. And I've always regretted how we ended. But Faith can be very determined when she sees something she wants."

"I think you had something to do with me being here to Xander," Cordelia said. "After all it wasn't Faith who contacted me out of the blue. Although it was Faith who asked me out, so I suppose she does deserve most of the credit for tonight."

"Just remember that when I kiss you good night," Faith said.

"Xander," Bruce said. "I don't know whether to congratulate you or pity you."

"I'll go with congratulations," Xander said. "This is definitely of the good."

"Here's to the happy triad," Bruce said raising his glass to them. "Better you than me kid. At my age, they'd be the death of me."

Xander and the girls shared the toast, then Xander said, "But what a way to go." He then shared a kiss with Cordelia followed by Faith. Xander was surprised when halfway through the evening one of the waiters brought him a note. Showing the note to the girls he said, "We've got an invite to the Vanity Fair after party. So do you want to go?"

Cordelia bit her lip, "Yes if you and Faith want to go," she said.

"Tonight's all about you Barbie," Faith said. "So if you want to go to the after party that's where we'll be."

Cordelia looked at Xander, "What she said. This is your night Cordy, so we want it to be as special as possible. Just remember that when it's Faith's turn. Because you know she'll be a lot more wild than you or me."

"Oh, as if," Cordelia said. "I'm sure you'll drag us both to some sci-fi convention and make us dress up too."

Xander's eyes started to glaze over. Bruce laughed from watching the interplay. "Tell you what Xander, if you want, I can make sure you've got VIP passes to DragonCon this year. It's one of the best parties every year."

"Hell yes," Faith said.

Cordelia looked at Faith, asking "How could you?"

"Hey, it's wicked cool," Faith said. "Plus we can be in disguise so most people will never recognize us. And I bet we could come up with some costumes that are _out of this world_."

Cordelia snorted, Bruce didn't get Faith's hidden meaning, but she did. "Fine, if it's so important to the two of you, then I'm in. After all, you did dress up for me for tonight. So I think I can manage to dress up for you two. But no metal bikinis!"

"What," Faith protested, "I think Boytoy would look hot in a metal speedo."

"Loincloth is the farthest I'll go Faith," Xander said.

Cordelia looked him over, "We could work with that."

Bruce just appraised the three of them, "You three are alright," he said.

Cordelia pulled her tablet out to write some quick notes on it. Bruce looked at it and asked, "What is that? Some new kind of blackberry?"

Xander laughed, "No this is something that will be on the market later this year."

Cordelia passed the tablet over to Bruce, "Take a look if you want."

Bruce started tapping icons on the screen, after a few minutes he said. "Wow, I don't get half of what this thing is but it's still pretty damn impressive."

Faith nodded, "And Cordelia designed and built the prototypes."

"Beauty and brains," Bruce said with a smile.

Faith nodded, "That's our Cordelia, she only looks like a Barbie." Turning to Cordelia she said. "Hey, Cordy do you think David might want to talk to Bruce about maybe being the spokesman for the new tablets."

Cordelia laughed, "He's a bigger geek than Xander, I think it will take him half a day just to reboot if Bruce is interested."

"Well," Faith asked.

"I'm always up for a gig," Bruce said. "But who's David, because I don't think you're talking about the Hasselhoff."

"David Nabbit," Xander supplied, "And I agree I think you'd be great as a spokesman."

"Tell you what Xander," Bruce said. "Here's my number call me and we'll see what happens."

Xander typed the number into the tablet. "This thing is a phone too," he explained. "Better than any computer in the world and able to do things you'll only find in sci-fi shows."

"You guys should make sure you have a booth at DragonCon to show these things off," Bruce said. "Get people dressed in sci-fi ship uniforms and make a big deal out of it. If you'll be ready by September."

"Late July early August was when we should be going into mass production," Cordelia said. "So that would be pretty easy to do. And I think David would love being at Dragoncon to hype his newest product."

The rest of the night was fun, Cordelia really enjoyed her time with Faith and Xander. At the after party, she took turns dancing with Xander and Faith. The two of them made sure she was the center of their date. A few dances had the three of them together, but usually, it was one or the other. The first time Cordelia had a slow dance with Faith, she was surprised at how good it was. Right, then Cordelia decided if this was going to work it wouldn't just be sharing Xander, it would be the three of them in a true relationship.

Holding Faith close, Cordelia whispered, " Thank you, Faith. But I want you to know. I don't want to share Xander. I want to be partners with both of you. Not just having Xander between the two of us."

"Sounds perfect to me Cordelia," Faith said as she kissed Cordelia. The kiss was sensual, but not over the top, and Cordelia responded. For the first time Cordelia kissed a girl, and like the song said, she liked it.

By the time the night was over it was almost two in the morning. Faith and Xander dropped Cordelia off at her house. Cordelia kissed both of them good night, Faith first and then Xander. Heading up to her room, she felt excited, happy and content. Sleep came easily if not quickly once she had laid down.

At five in the morning, Joyce let Jack into the house, Giles was with her, as he held up a horn. Offering them both hearing protection Jack sounded the air horn. The loud noise woke the three sleeping teens. Xander sat up wondering what the hell was happening. Faith was up and looking for who was attacking. Buffy had jumped out of bed, and grabbed a sword, she rushed downstairs weapon in hand and saw her Mom, Giles and Jack waiting for her.

"What the hell," Buffy asked.

"Language Buffy," Joyce said.

Faith and Xander showed up a moment later. "Mom, Dad, Giles," Faith said. "What's going on?"

"First, Xander," Joyce said. "I'm sorry for waking you up. Now Girls, do you remember what happened at the SGC? When the two of you decided to 'help' Xander?" After both girls nodded Joyce continued. "I promised you both there would be consequences. Working with Jack and George, the three of us came up with a plan."

Buffy and Faith groaned, they knew if those three had planned together it was going to be bad.

"For the next Month," Jack said. "You two will be going through the SEALs program. You'll each be leading a mixed team of Jaffa and SEALs candidates. You're going to be responsible for twenty people and yourselves."

"Wait," Xander said. "I thought the SEALs program took like six months to do?"

Jack smiled, "Normally it does. But since neither Buffy or Faith is exactly normal we decided to make something that would challenge them. You'll both be scheduled for sixteen hour days for the next month." The two girls looked outraged, but Joyce quelled them with a look. "If you can finish the day's training in less than sixteen hours you can use the leftover time however you please."

"Starting today and for the next month, both of you will be living at the training center," Joyce said. "You can take a small bag with you. So pack wisely. And you aren't allowed to ask Willow, Tara, Cordelia, or Xander for help once training starts."

"In fact, none of your friends may be called upon to assist you," Giles added. "We hope that this will teach you both a valuable lesson and allow you to learn new skills that will aid you in the future."

"So we're going to start this later today," Buffy asked.

"As long as by later you mean ten minutes from now," Jack agreed.

"What," Buffy screamed. "That's not fair. I need more time."

Jack looked at his watch, "Nine Minutes forty-five seconds to go. Then the Enterprise will transport you to the training camp."

Buffy wanted to argue, but she knew her Mom's look. Instead, she ran upstairs to pack a bag. Faith followed her, thinking, " _Meh, what's the worst they could do_?"

Ten minutes later the girls and their bags were transported to the Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado. Standing in four lines of five men each were two groups. Buffy was deposited in front of one of the groups and Faith in front of the other.

"Good Morning Ladies," The Drill Instructor yelled. "I'm so pleased you could join us." Turning to face the combined platoons he continued. "For the next thirty days, these two Ladies will be your commanders. Troop Winter, you will be under Commander Faith Summers. Troop Summer, you will be under Commander Buffy Summers."

All of the SEALs candidates looked like this was a joke. The DI saw the look and called out, "Do you have a problem with that Nugget?"

"Yes, Drill Instructor Daniels," One of the larger men said. "The SEALs program does not allow women to participate. How are they going to be able to keep up let alone pass the course or lead us? I mean look at them, anyone of us could break them on accident."

The DI smiled, things were going exactly as planned. Turning to Buffy and Faith he said. "Well Ladies, I believe that your men have a valid concern how are you going to address it?"

Faith looked at the men, "So you think you could take Buffy or me?"

"Permission to speak freely," One of the men said.

"Yeah sure whatever," Faith said.

"Ms. Summers," the man said. "With all due respect Ma'am, you're going to get hurt if you try and keep up with us. And if you try and spar with us, I would be really concerned for your safety."

"Is that what all of you think," Buffy asked. The human male answered yes, the Jaffa knew that both Buffy and Faith were Hoktar they smiled.

"How do you want to do this B," Faith said. "We can take them all out at once, or one on one?"

The DI waited patiently to see if Buffy would give one of the correct answers. "Faith," Buffy said. "We're supposed to be responsible for these guys. Plus it's not their fault that they are being stupid. So how about you and I spar, to show them what they'd be up against?"

Faith smiled, "Wicked, but I am so kicking your ass!"

The DI nodded, the answer wasn't perfect but it was a good start. "Clear a space," the DI yelled. Everyone cleared a circle ten feet across. "Ma'ams, Rules are simple stay in the circle no maiming blows. Start when I signal."

Both Faith and Buffy nodded while grinning. The human men, all dropped their jaws when the Drill Sergeant blew his whistle. Buffy and Faith were not holding anything back. The men could not even track their moves. They were moving too fast to really grasp what they were seeing. But the results of the blows were visible if one of the girls was struck in the air they would slow down enough to track them. The fight was brutal, but neither of the girls seemed to be really damaging the other.

After five minutes Faith did something, or Buffy did, they couldn't see it. But Buffy wound up on the ground, Faith immobilizing her. Buffy tapped out. Faith stuck out her tongue, "Told you I was going to kick your ass!"

"Next time you'll be the one tapping out," Buffy promised. Turning to the men she said, "So any questions about us not being able to handle this?"

The men were smart enough to realize they were still lacking information. "No Ma'am,' the original recruit replied.

"Coolios," Buffy said with her Valley girl smile.

The DI wanted to groan, "Alright if you are through wasting my time, by questioning who is in charge, I believe we should get started with today's training. Smith," the DI called out. Smith was the second man to talk. He grabbed the packets and started passing them out. "Inside you will see your training schedule for the next thirty days. As those of you who are familiar with the SEALs course will see, in the next thirty days you will be completing the course we normally teach in one hundred and twenty days."

The human recruits groaned, each of them had previously taken the SEALs course, but due to injuries they had washed out prior to Hell Week. Part of the reason they had been included was because they were human. Buffy and Faith both needed to realize the limitations of their human men, especially when compared to that of the Jaffa or themselves. The other part was that since they had already passed these courses they would be a help or hindrance to the girls depending on how they handled the situation.

"For those members of the United States Navy, if you pass this thirty-day course, you will immediately be moved into your Hell Week final. Whereupon completion, you will be pinned as Navy SEALs." The DI continued. "I am one of your four Drill instructors. Two of us will be instructing you during every class. One pair will be here in the morning the other in the afternoon. If you somehow manage to complete the day's work to our satisfaction prior to the scheduled time, you will be free to use the additional time as you see fit."

"Now we will proceed to the barracks where you will store your personal gear. You will change into your Navy issued uniforms and we will proceed to the piers where we will begin today's Diving training. You have ten minutes to get changed before I expect you outside in formation." The men rushed about making sure their gear was stored away and made it back outside within seven minutes. Faith took just under nine minutes and Buffy came back at nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds.

The days training took the entire sixteen hours, by the time they were done both girls wanted to just go home and sleep. When they signalled the Enterprise they were shocked to learn that they would be sleeping on the base for the next month. Neither of them were happy about that, but they knew better than to argue with their Mother.

Cordelia woke up after ten in the morning. Once she had grabbed a shower and some food, she looked at what needed to be done. Since they were now in the final planning stages for Tok'ra she called Willow and Tara. Tara answered the call. After checking to make sure they were free Cordelia signaled the Enterprise to transport her to them.

Both of the girls had papers in front of them. "Cordelia," Willow greeted her warmly. "How was the date last night?"

Cordelia smiled, "It was really good, fantastic even. Xander and Faith went all out."

Willow smiled, "Come on you have to tell us everything!"

Cordelia sat down and started talking. She covered everything, she was now very comfortable around Willow; and Tara was so easy to be a friend too. She even told them what she had said to Faith about wanting a relationship with both of them.

"Wow," Willow said. "I'd never have guessed you would feel that way. But I'm really happy for you." Willow hurried to assure Cordelia that she wasn't judging her lifestyle choices. "Plus if the three of you decide you want to get married, someday, you can."

"I guess you're talking about getting married under Federation law?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah," Tara said. "Here," she handed Cordelia a paper that had the Bill of rights listed.

1: No Law shall be passed to Punish or Rebuke an Individual's right to express themselves in word, document, or deed as long at said Expression does not infringe on the rights of other Individuals. Individuals do have the right to sue for Damages when targeted by other individuals or entities, for perceived libel or defamation of character.  
2: No Individual shall be denied the right to defend themselves. The right to own and bear weaponry is not to be infringed. For the purposes of defense, the Government shall set up free training in standard military defense disciplines for its citizens. But attendance is in no ways mandatory.  
3: No Individuals shall be denied the right to make their own choices without Due Process. The Government is expressly denied the right to make any choices regarding its citizen's personal lives. (Government is not to interfere in marriage or medical practices)  
4: No Individuals shall be relieved of Property, Privileges, Life, or Freedom without Due Process. Rights are never to be stripped from a Individuals.  
5: No Individuals shall be forced to testify against their self in any Trial.  
6: No Individuals shall be subjected to Search or Seizure without Due Process  
7: No Individuals shall be denied the ability to practice their Religion, provided the practice of said religion does not infringe on another Individual's rights.  
8: No Individuals shall be denied a Trial and when requested, the government will provide any means available to ascertain the truthful statements of the accused and the witnesses. Failure to request these means by the accused may not be taken as an admission of guilt. Trials must take place within thirty days of charges being brought against an Individual unless the individual requests a delay.  
9\. No Individuals shall be tried for the same crime more than once.  
10\. All Individuals are afforded the above protections even before they are past the age of Majority.[a]

"We wanted to try and keep it as simple as possible," Tara explained. "But we think we covered everything we needed to."

"How will this apply to Vampires," Cordelia asked. "I mean they could be called individuals."

"It would have to apply to them as well, but since they would be killed by anyone defending themselves, we can only hope that common sense will be used," Willow admitted. "It's really the same with the Goa'uld. So you think we need to add something about slavery?"

"I think number four would cover that," Cordelia said. "After all when a Goa'uld takes a host they are depriving them of their freedom."

"That's true," Willow said. "And anyone a vampire tried to turn would be guilty of denying the original person of their life."

"So I came over to see how the plans for the city were going," Cordelia said. "Are we ready to really start planning? I'd like to see the basics done by the end of the week."

"Let me call Jonathan and we can get to work," Willow said. After placing the call to Jonathan, they only had to wait fifteen minutes before he arrived. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, but he insisted that he didn't want to talk about it.

The four of them decided it would be best to use the Enterprises system since it had a large holographic display that they could map everything on. They spent the rest of the day working onboard the Enterprise. Xander stopped in several times, he also told them about his early wakeup call and what was happening to Buffy and Faith.

Xander had been on board the Enterprise since shortly after Faith had left. He had really enjoyed last night. Xander was surprised at how easy it had been to be with both girls. And he had to admit a part of him did still have feelings for Cordelia. They were different from what he felt for Faith but no less real. And as a nineteen-year-old man, seeing Cordelia and Faith kiss had really gotten to him.

"Enterprise," Xander called out.

"Yes Captain," the Enterprise responded.

"I want you to run deep level security checks on Bruce Campbell. See if his profile indicates that he would be a good candidate for 'Revelation'. Please give me an ETA on this," Xander ordered.

"With current access," The Enterprise said. "I will complete the background check in one hour. If this is a priority I can move it to a higher priority but that will still require twenty minutes to complete."

"Hm," Xander said. "Why so long?"

"Accessing Earth's systems slows the process down Captain. They can not respond quickly enough to match my data requests."

"One hour is fine," Xander said. "Thank you, Enterprise."

An hour later, the Enterprise informed it's Captain that Bruce Campbell had passed the background check, and would be a reasonable candidate for 'Revelation'. Xander called David and Hank. Once both men were present he explained his idea. "Thanks, for making time to see me," Xander said. "Last night Faith and I took Cordelia to the Oscars, and we just happened to sit next to Bruce Campbell. After talking with him, I thought he might make a great spokesman for our new tablets. But since you're one of our primary partners David I wanted your thoughts. And Hank since you know advertising, I asked you to come."

"You sat with the Chin," David asked. "Was he as cool as you thought he'd be?"

"Cooler," Xander confirmed. "He invited Cordy, Faith and me to Dragoncon. He even suggested we do a product unveiling there."

Because of the IBM account and some of the ideas that had floated around, Hank actually knew what Dragoncon was, "It's sort of a niche market but the fact that it touches on so many related fields would make it a good idea.," Hank said. "And Bruce Campbell definitely has recognition value with the under forty demographic."

"So you're both ok with me talking to him?" Xander asked. After both men nodded Xander said. "Enterprise, contact Bruce Campbell, verify he is alone when you do."

"Yes Captain, Mr. Campbell is currently alone in his trailer on set for his current project. Production schedules show he should be done for the day. Connecting you now."

Bruce didn't recognize the number that was calling him, and what's more, he couldn't decline the call. He finally answered, "The Call Me Bruce," He said.

"Bruce, this is Xander Giles," Xander said.

"Kid," Bruce answered. "I wasn't expecting you to call so soon. And how did you get it so that I couldn't decline the call?"

"Glad you asked that," Xander said. "Hold on for one minute I'd like you to do a quick meeting with me and David Nabbit."

"Conference call," Bruce said. "Sure I've got time today."

"Great," Xander said. "Oh, and don't panic." Bruce was about to ask what the hell the kid meant when he heard "Enterprise transport Mr. Campbell to this room." Bruce felt a tingle and then he saw a bright light. Once he could see again, he saw Xander, along with David Nabbit who he recognized from the news and another man who he did not know.

"What the Hell," Bruce yelled.

Xander laughed, "Welcome to the Enterprise, Bruce… I suppose I should say 'Welcome to Wonderland', but that's really not me."

"You're screwing with me," Bruce said.

"Nope," Xander said, "You're on board the Furling Federation Starship Enterprise. If you look over there you can see the Earth below us."

Once Bruce accepted where he was, Xander gave him the pitch. They wanted him to become the spokesman for their new products that they would be introducing to Earth.

"So you're like an Alien then," Bruce asked. "Why come to Earth?"

"I was born on Earth. And Earth needs what we are going to be introducing. I know you're probably wondering why you?" Xander said, "Honestly, you were just such a nice guy last night, and I've always loved your movies. Although Jack might be upset at how I shanghaied you."

"I take it Jack's with the Government," Bruce asked.

"Yup," Xander said imitating Jack. "So if you agree, I'm going to let Hank and David work out the details. We'll treat you right, and make sure your well paid for what you do."

"Really kid, Why me," Bruce asked.

"I already told you most of it," Xander said. "But the other part is that, you said yourself, you weren't planning to be there last night. I've found that when weird shit happens I need to pay attention. So I decided to do this, Jack can yell if he wants but you passed your background checks. Plus even if you tried to tell anyone no one would believe you until after the whole world knows."

Angel was brooding, he hadn't heard back from Wesley or Giles about this curse. And while he was happy about not being vulnerable, he wasn't happy about the electric charges that hit him every time he forgot about the rules. Or how his skin screamed in pain if he touched the wrong thing. Angel was sitting in the courtyard of the Hyperion when he saw Wesley arrive.

"Wesley," Angel called out. "I hope you have some good news."

Wesley got off his bike. "Angel, I have news, but I don't think you'll call it good."

"Why what did you find out?" Angel asked.

"We've found out why you were cursed," Wesley said.

"That's nothing," Angel scoffed, "I was cursed because Dru is crazy."

"Actually I found her to be very logical in her reasons," Wesley said.

"You talked to Drusilla," Angel asked.

"Yes, we were discussing your problem when Cordelia told us that if Xander called Drusilla she would answer all of his questions."

Angel growled, "Harris!"

"Angel, I really don't see what your problem is with Alexander Giles," Wesley said. "All of us have realized how wrong we were to belittle him. And holding onto this irrational hatred you have for him will not help anyone. Now would you like to know what we learned?"

"Fine, tell me," Angel said.

"Drusilla and Spike both claimed that your curse was inflicted on you for two reasons, first, so that you would never again become a vampire."

Angel broke in, "And they had to do all of this to prevent that?"

"No they didn't," Wesley said. "The second reason is why they inflicted this punishment on you."

"So tell me already," Angel ordered.

"Forty-thousand," Wesley said.

"Forty-thousand," Angel repeated, "What the hell does that mean?"

"That is the number of people that Drusilla and Spike killed after you were cursed with a soul. They both feel, and I agree with them, that if you had at least attempted to kill the rest of the Scourge, it would have saved those people," Wesley finished speaking and watched Angel.

Angel stood there not moving, he was shocked to hear the number that Wesley had given him. But he knew how Angelus killed. He was actually positive that Drusilla and Spike had killed more than that. Angel whispered, "I couldn't do that. They would have killed me."

"Perhaps," Wesley said. "And perhaps not, but since you did nothing; since you didn't even attempt to do the right thing. That is the reason that Drusilla cursed you. Do you really feel you have the right to protest this?"

"But I didn't do anything," Angel protested.

"Really Angel," Wesley said. "That is precisely the point. You didn't do **Anything**! If you had done something even if it had failed at least you would have tried. Instead, you stood aside and gave tactical approval to all of those deaths. Bollux man, you were like them, you had to have known how many people they would kill. How vicious they were. You were part of the Scourge of Europe! The four of you didn't get that name because you were throwing tea parties."

Wesley was surprised at how angry he was. Part of him hadn't wanted to believe everyone else's assessment of Angel's character. But Angel was demonstrating right now that everyone else had been correct about him.

"Angel, I did not come here today to fight with you, I had to deliver the news of what we had found. However, I also needed to let you know that I will be less available to assist you. Rupert has asked me to come back to the Watchers to help reshape them into what they were supposed to be. A tool to fight Evil, and support the Slayers. As such if I am available I will be happy to assist you but I can not guarantee that I will always be available."

"So you're leaving too," Angel said. "Just like Cordelia you're running away to a better offer. Is Harris going to be Fucking you too?"

"Angel," Wesley said, in a quiet tone of voice. "Cordelia's relationship with Xander is none of your business. What's more, the offer is better, it will allow me to help more people. And finally, if you continue to let your jealousy of Xander run wild, it will destroy you."

"Me, jealous of him?" Angel said. "He may have gotten some power upgrades but he's still what he always was, a loser! Angelus should have killed him that night in the hospital!"

"Yet Angelus didn't," Wesley said, appalled at the darkness Angel was revealing. "And why was that? Perhaps because he was smart enough to realize that even if he succeeded in killing Mr. Harris he would be either dead or wishing he was dead." Wesley continued, "And I would say, you are jealous for the same reason I myself have been in the past. Alexander is the better man. Even when he was working with less knowledge than I or you might have had, he gave his all to protect others."

"The day Harris is a better man than me," Angel said. "That's the day hell has officially frozen over!"

Wesley realized he was fighting a losing battle, "Angel, I pity you," Wesley said. "I must apologize but until you pull your head out of your ass, I believe it would be prudent that we stay away from each other. I shall leave you most of my books in the hopes that you will put them to good use." Wesley turned around, got on his bike and left. Angel stared at the man's back as he drove away.

Angel couldn't believe how Harris was destroying everything. He had built up, a good life for himself and Harris was stripping pieces away slowly one piece at a time. Angel turned around and walked inside unsure of what he should do next. Skip looked at what was happening and smiled. He had been standing to the side, hidden from the people here. Angel was going to be more than ready to become the Father. He was cutting off anyone who could warn him of the dangers.

As Skip went to turn away and leave he saw he was no longer alone. Two Justice demons he recognized were standing behind him. "Guys, que pasa? What are you doing here," Skip asked.

"Our Lord D'Hoffryn has requested that you meet with him." Stanley, Justice demon of neglected parents said.

"I'd love to," Skip said. "How about we get together next week, does Tuesday work for him?"

"Now," Stanley said. "If you don't come now, my Lord D'Hoffryn will be placing a bounty on your head. Payable when only your head is presented to him."

"How much are we talking here," Skip asked, a feeling of dread building in his stomach.

"Forty souls," Stanley said. "Because of that I really hope you choose not to come." Stanley smiled and Skip could understand why. Forty souls was an incredible, bounty. For the average demon, getting even one soul, free and clear, every hundred years was good work. Forty, that was more than a king's ransom.

"I think I'll go with you," Skip decided. "After all, I would hate to disappoint Lord D'Hoffryn."

Stanley nodded as he and his companion grabbed Skip and travelled to Arashmahaar.

D'Hoffryn had spent the last year of his time watching TV. He had now watched every episode of the _Star Trek_ series, including all of the movies. "I rather like Sisko," he mused. "Certainly he was better than that Jean-Luc Picard, really non-interference? Humans," D'Hoffryn snorted in laughter. "Their very presence would cause interference. Still, Q seems dangerous, and whoever I was talking to was using the appearance of this Q. What was he telling me?"

A piece of parchment flashed into being, it hovered in the air, in front of D'Hoffryn. D'Hoffryn quickly read the message. "Ah excellent," D'Hoffryn said. He flashed into his thrown room. Sitting down Stanly entered and presented Skip.

"Well done, Stanley," D'Hoffryn said. "Now Skip, as I believe you are currently calling yourself. I am so pleased that you decided to accept my invitation. I believe it is in your best interest to do a small job for me."

"D'Hoffryn buddy," Skip started to say. Stanley hit him from behind.

"Lord D'Hoffryn," Stanley said.

"Yeah sure, whatever," Skip said. "Lord D'Hoffryn, I'd love to work for you, but currently I'm under contract with another party. You know how it is. A demon's worth is only as good as their results. So how about once my current employer is done, I'll do whatever it is that you want? If the price is right."

"Ah, Skip," D'Hoffryn sighed. "I'm afraid that just won't do. You see your new job has to do with your current employer Jasmine, the Power that was and wishes to be again."

Skip felt fear clenching what would be his heart if he had one. "Who? Jasmine? Sorry never heard of her."

D'Hoffryn laughed. "Oh, very well put Skip. Honestly, I would expect nothing less from a demon of your caliber. However, you will either be working for me or you will become my new centerpiece. I think your head would look marvelous on the table. A real statement piece."

"I guess," Skip said. "It would depend on what you were trying to say."

"I believe the statement would be something along the lines of **Don't Fuck with Me** , Skip," D'Hoffryn explained.

"Wouldn't dream of disappointing you," Skip said. "But I still can't help you. I'd love to, but once a contract has been made, well you know how it is?"

"But Skip," D'Hoffryn chided. "Of course I'm aware of your contract. I managed to acquire a copy of it. What you're going to do for me, is make sure that whenever you go to do one of these little errands for Jasmine, your new best friend, Stanley will be with you. Of course, once you've done whatever small task Jasmine has given you. Why it would not be your fault if something happened."

"Man this sucks," Skip complained. "Do you know what she'll do to me if she finds out?"

"Oh I can imagine," D'Hoffryn said. "But I know what I'll do to you if you don't do as I ask. So Skip, to use one of the Humans phrases _Do you feel lucky?_ ," D'Hoffryn waited a moment and when Skip did not reply, he continued. "Well, Skip, what's it going to be?"

Skip looked at D'Hoffryn, "Fine, but if I'm going to do this, I expect protection. Or at least a place to run when everything goes to hell."

"I think I can arrange that," D'Hoffryn said. "After all, I have access to multiple pocket dimensions that my servants have created. You can safely hide out in one of those. Some are quite lovely."

"And afterward," Skip asked. "What's supposed to happen to me after everyone finds out? How am I supposed to keep working? A demon has to eat, you know?"

"I am willing to offer you at least some piece work," D'Hoffryn said. "The odd job here or there. That should tide you over until you're back on your feet. Now I just need you to sign our agreement," D'Hoffryn pulled out a piece of parchment. "And then you may be on your way."

Skip took the contract and started reading, he might be screwed but he wasn't stupid enough to sign something without reading it first. Once he had read everything over he turned to D'Hoffryn, handing back the parchment he asked, "So what now?"

"Now," D'Hoffryn said. "I want you to talk with Stanley here about what Jasmine has asked you to do. I've even provided refreshments, so please go into great detail as you tell him in a suitably loud voice what you have been up to."

Skip grimaced as he sat down at a small table. Stanley smirked at him and Skip started telling Stanley because he would never tell a rival demon Lord his boss's plans, everything he knew.

After listening to everything D'Hoffryn told Stanley, "You know, I think Ben has been neglected. You could almost say that Glorificus is his child. After all, she does come from his body so to speak. And look how she treats him? Why it's positively shameful! I believe you might want to befriend young Ben. Just remember the new rules he gets a choice. But make them subtly different. Just make sure that Glorificus is no longer a problem. The bitch may have ruled a hell dimension but that was long ago and I still rule mine!"

Turning to Skip, D'Hoffryn said. "Skip it has been a pleasure doing business with you. I hope to see you very soon."

Skip recognizing a dismissal said, "Of course Lord D'Hoffryn, thank you for not killing me."

D'Hoffryn laughed, "Oh, think nothing of it. After all there is always next time. Now you may go." Skip left as quickly as he could without appearing to be running away.

Stanley appeared on Earth. Looking around he began to cast out his senses. He quickly found Ben Wilkinson, Doctor and general chew toy for Glorificus. Stanley examined Ben's life. "Hm," Stanley said. "He's lonely, almost no friends, because Glory keeps him isolated. The easiest way to approach him is going to be through his work." Stanley reviewed the options at Ben's work. "Ah," he said. "Looks like the hospital is about to instigate mandatory therapy sessions. I believe you, Ben will now be one of my patients," Dr. Stanley Hardy said. A minor twist of reality and the LA private hospital that Ben was currently working at now had the exact program Stanley wanted. Of course, Ben Wilkins was the only one in the program. But that was a coincidence. And if he asked any of his coworkers they would readily explain that they had had to do the same thing shortly after they started working at that Hospital. They would also sing the praises of Dr. Hardy, and how much he helped them.

Ethan Rayne was not a happy man, er woman. Anya refused to turn him back into himself. And while there was a somewhat voyeuristic quality to looking at the package she had created, he rather preferred to have his tackle back.

"Look where am I supposed to find a third 'Angel'. I mean it's not like I know many birds that would just drop everything to start working for a Chaotic higher power," Ethan said. "Just change me back."

"I don't think so," Anya said. "Q was very clear, if you don't find a third girl, you're going to be the third girl and he'll find us a Bosley."

"Besides," Hallie said. "You look better now. I mean you're what two, three hundred years old? And boy did you look it. Now you look maybe twenty."

"Hallie," Anya said. "He's a human remember? He was only sixty or seventy years old."

"I'll have you both know I'm only in my forties," Ethan complained.

"Really," Hallie asked in disbelief. "Wow, you look like shit then. Seriously you should consider just staying in that body. I mean to only be forty and look that old?" Hallie shivered at the idea.

"Come on," Ethan begged. "Please just turn me back into me? Throw me a bone here ladies. I mean it's not like I ever did anything to you."

"You really hate women so much that you can't stand being one," Anya asked with a scowl.

"No I love the ladies, and I've used a disguise similar to this in the past," Ethan assured her. "What I hate is that I am stuck."

"Oh so if you could change at will then you'd be fine with this," Hallie asked. When Ethan nodded 'yes'. Hallie said, "And you call yourself a Chaos worshipper? Really Chaos is about having no control." Turning to Anya she said, "Let's keep him like this until at least he get's us another Angel."

"And just where am I supposed to find some bird, who has nothing better to do than help you two," Ethan asked. "It's not like I have a great deal of female friends to work with."

Anya snorted, "I believe that I mean really you're not very well endowed as a male. Not anything like Xander is."

"Oh, do tell," Hallie said. "Just how big is he?" Anya looked at Hallie, "What? It's not like you ever gave me all the details. You always wanted to talk shop. Sure you mentioned he was a Viking in the sack, but I want measurements."

Ethan groaned, "Look, I really don't want to hear the details of some other blokes tackle. And I especially don't want to know them when the bloke in question is now my nephew." That was the moment of clarity for Ethan. "Hold on, I may know someone who would be willing to help. She's been calling me, but I really didn't want to be bothered."

"Oh," Anya said. "And who is this possible Angel?"

Ethan smiled, "Why my dear sister, Jessica. You may have met her Xander's mother."

"What," Anya said. "She's a waste of space. I mean all she does is drink with that disgusting pig Tony."

"Well, that was before dear Tony found out that Xander was actually Rupert's son." Ethan smiled. "Jessica is a bit desperate to get some distance between herself and him. As you can imagine Tony didn't take it very well."

Anya nodded she could see exactly how Tony Harris would have taken the news. "I still think you should find someone better," Anya complained.

"Well since neither of you are inclined to help," Ethan replied. "I'm going with what I have available. Now if you'll just turn me back into myself I'll call her."

"Oh no," Anya said. "Until you get a third Angel you're staying like that." Anya smirked, "Good luck convincing her."

"Fine be that way," Ethan said in a huff. Picking up his cell phone Ethan called his sister. Once she had answered Ethan started speaking. "Jess, don't hang up! It's me, Ethan… I know I don't sound like myself… Well, I got caught up in a situation and am stuck as a woman for now… It's not funny, Jess… No, it's really not… Fine, laugh it up, little sister… So, I'm sorry I didn't call earlier… Well, I'm calling now… Yes, I understand… No, I don't need anything from you. I'm hurt you think I would only call you if I wanted something… really, after I got your message and was able to get away from my previous engagements I called as soon as I could… Look I want you to get out of Sunnydale for now… You can come stay with me… Yes, I'll pay for a plane ticket to get you here… Look it'll be just like old times, we can travel a bit, see what trouble we can stir up… I've even got a couple of friends who you might like… No, I'm not trying to set you up… Look unless you switched to playing for the home team, I don't think they're your type… No, I'm not dating either of them… They're business associates, that's all… I can't believe you don't trust me? Your own brother. When have I ever steered you wrong?... Well, that might be true, but I did introduce you to Ripper. I believe I should get some credit for that… Alright, I'll arrange for a ticket to be waiting for you at the Airport… Good to talk to you too Jess… See you soon."

Hanging up the phone Ethan smiled, "Now to arrange transportation." Opening his wallet Ethan was surprised to see a new black credit card, "Well what do we have here," he asked.

Anya looked over at him, seeing a black American Express, she started to drool. "Is that what I think it is?" Ethan flashed it to her. "Oh, do you know those have no limits? Just think of all the things we can buy?"

"We?" Ethan asked. "Now why would I do something like that for you?"

Anya narrowed her eyes at Ethan, "So that I don't do something more permanent to you. Like change you back into a man and then rip off your precious tackle and feed it to you!"

"Yes, well I suppose that is a very good reason," Ethan admitted. If he had currently had his proper equipment he would have been crossing his legs to protect himself. "Still I believe until we can get my dear sister here and convince her to join us. I shall hold off on the shopping. Now if you help me to convince her, I believe I could be persuaded to allow a few hours of shopping on this little card."

"The full day," Anya insisted. "From the time the stores open until they close. And you'll either arrange someone to carry our things or do it yourself."

"Not even I am that desperate," Ethan said. "Four hours, I'm willing to do four hours."

"As if," Anya said. "I want twelve hours on the card. Do you have any idea of what I want to buy? Four hours would be enough time."

"And there is no way that I am doing twelve hours of continuous shopping," Ethan insisted.

Anya smiled, "Fine, three four hour blocks. But the rule applies every time you either carry our things or you pay someone to do it."

Ethan sighed, "Fine but no more than four hours in one week. I'll need some time to recover. And you both have to help convince Jess to sign on with us. If she doesn't agree then no shopping spree for either of you."

"Deal," Anya said, speaking for both Hallie and herself.

Jessica Rayne hung up the phone. She knew it wasn't a good idea to trust her brother. But, she honestly didn't have very many options. Her other half-brother Rory had been letting her stay with him. But she had definitely passed the three-day rule. In fact she was getting closer to the three-month rule.

"Who was that Jess," Rory asked.

"Ethan," Jessica said. "He finally called me back. He wants me to come stay with him for a while."

"Sure he does," Rory said. "So any idea what he really wants?"

"No," Jessica said. "But it's not like I have a whole lot of options. Look, Rory, I really appreciate you letting me stay with you. But Tony is still out there. And he'll be looking for some way to kill me, that Xander can't pin on him. I know I fucked up. I should have never married the bastard. And I should never have let Xander grow up with him. But I was stupid, and then I decided to drown my stupidity in alcohol. Even if Ethan is up to something, he never got any of us killed. And it was usually good for a laugh. I could really use a laugh about now."

Rory nodded, he knew his sister had been offered major cash. All she had to do was talk about Xander. Tony had been trying to shoot his mouth off, but none of the tabloids believed a word he said. Jessica just told them to 'Fuck Off' she wasn't going to hurt Xander like that. Not again.

"Fine," Rory said. "But if you run into trouble you call me or Xander." Before she could protest he said. "Look he's still your son. Yeah, he was pissed. He had a right to be. But you know at the end of the day, if you're in trouble he'll move Heaven and Earth to try to help you."

"Thanks, Rory," Jessica said. "Hopefully this will help me finish getting my shit together."

[a] Story-28917-35/ScottWanderer+Ship+of+the+Line+I+AM+the+

I adapted the Bill of Rights from ScottWanderer's great story. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

And a HUGE DEBT of gratitude to DavidEmpey. He has graciously volunteered to help Beta. Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

Chapter 15

Jack was packing his quarters. Now that Sunnydale base was up and running, he had handed off the day-to-day operations to the new commander. He still wasn't sure what he would be doing next. With the revelation of the Furlings, the trips through the Stargate were no longer as crucial. The knowledge the Furlings were bringing to Earth would benefit them so much more.

Jack had to admit, at least to himself, that he wasn't sure he wanted to keep going through the gate. After Charlie had died he had had nothing else to live for. Going through the gate, while dangerous, was important for the future of humanity. But now he had Faith and even knowing that some higher power had altered reality to give him a daughter, he wouldn't change a thing. She was a beautiful young woman, and he loved her just as much as he had loved Charlie.

Sitting down he held the picture of Charlie in his hands. "I wish you could have met Faith," Jack said. "I know you would have loved her and she would have loved having you as a brother." Thinking about how Charlie had died, Jack felt the rage he had been locking up burning in his heart. "I don't know how we are going to do it," Jack said. "But I promise you, Charlie, they will pay for what they did to you. We will make sure that those bastards can't do anything like this again."

Tears started to fall down his face as Jack remembered all of the good moments he had had with his son. He thought of all of the moments that had been stolen from him by the Powers and Whistler. His marriage had been destroyed, his son killed and he had been left alone and empty. Jack could feel the rage burning inside of him, finally, he let out a primal scream, trying to release some of the pent-up emotions.

Jack was so lost in his own private hell that he didn't even notice someone had come into his room. The first time he realized he was not alone was feeling someone grabbing him and pulling him close, it took a moment for his brain to realize it was Sam.

Sam had finished packing her own quarters. Her talks with Tara had been helpful in more ways than one. She still hadn't decided what she was going to do about Jack. God help her she wanted more than what they had now, and she was fairly sure Jack wanted the same. But was she willing to risk the friendship they had now for the possibility of something more?

Sam heard jack's scream from down the corridor and rushed to make sure that everything was alright. Opening his bedroom door she saw Jack sitting on his bed, in his hand was a picture. It didn't take much to realize it had to be a picture of Charlie. Jack didn't even look up as Sam entered. Sam could tell Jack had been crying, the tears were visible on his face. Sam knew that Jack like most warriors tended to bottle up his emotions; hell, she did the same herself. But sooner or later those emotions have to be let out.

With everything that had happened in the last several months, Sam was only surprised that Jack hadn't had this moment before now. Walking over to him, Sam sat down next to him and did what she would never have done before. Sam pulled him into her arms. Holding him close, she felt Jack stiffen, then relax after a moment.

"Carter," Jack started to say. "Sam, what are you doing?" Jack still held himself closed off. Sam had her arms around him. She was leaning into him, and it felt good.

"Making a decision, Jack," Sam said. Sam could tell Jack was tense but some of the rage had left his body.

"What decision?" Jack asked, looking at her. He hadn't moved yet, he was letting Sam hold him, but he was still her commanding officer.

"I'm going to ask for a transfer, Jack," Sam said.

"What?" Jack asked, the shock in his voice was obvious to hear. "Why, Sam?"

Sam smiled at Jack, "Because I want more Jack. Ever since the day you were taken by the Asgard I've been forced to realize something. Something I didn't want to admit to myself."

Jack—while he wouldn't readily admit it—was not an idiot. But quite frankly he had no idea what Sam was talking about. "Sam, what are you talking about? How can what happened with Thor have made you decide to transfer out of the SGC?"

Sam smiled, "It wasn't what happened with Thor, Jack. It was what happened with Xander." Now Jack was really lost. Sam decided to take pity on Jack. "When we tried to find you, Xander had us think about you. But not just what we think of-of you, that wasn't enough. He told us we had to think about what we feel for you. At first, it didn't work. Xander couldn't get the right emotional connection to find you. It wasn't until I really admitted what I felt for you that he was able to find you."

Jack looked at Sam. "What do you feel for me?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but Jack O'Neill had never been a coward.

Samantha Carter was not a coward either. She looked Jack straight in the eyes and said, "I've fallen in love with you, Jack. I don't know when it happened, but I know I want more than what we could have as long as I'm serving under you at the SGC. So I've decided to ask for a transfer. Tara has assured me that they'll help smooth over any issues with being assigned to the new base." Sam smiled at Jack hoping that he would react the way she hoped.

Jack was shocked. He, unlike Sam, had not been forced to think about how he felt for her. He knew he cared for her. You couldn't go through as many life or death situations as SG-1 had had without having a very close relationship. And if he was honest with himself, he could admit he cared for Sam. But he also cared for Daniel and Teal'c. He could also admit that ever since Charlie had died he had cut himself off. He hadn't wanted to ever feel like that again. In fact, if Faith hadn't come into his life he would never have opened himself up like that again. When Scarra had been taken by the Goa'uld he had been heartbroken again. But it was not as bad as Charlie's death had been.

Sam could see the conflict going through Jack's eyes. She realized he didn't know what to say. She also realized that he had not had any time to think about the things she had been pondering the last few months. Before he could speak, she said. "Don't give me an answer right now. I know you, Jack O'Neill. Just like I refused to think about the possibilities you would have done the same thing. But I've had several months to think about this. And I know I could never find a better man than you. So yes I'm going to ask for a transfer and I'd like you to think about the possibility of us being more than friends. You don't have to answer me now, but please promise me you'll think about it."

Jack nodded, he really didn't know what to say. He could tell that all the rage he had been feeling had melted away. He felt a bit numb, to be honest. Before he could say anything, Sam leaned into him and kissed him. Just as Jack felt himself starting to respond, Sam broke the kiss. "Just promise me you'll think about it and let me know what you want to do." Jack nodded as Sam left the room.

Willow was incredibly excited, today was the big day. Standing on the bridge of the Enterprise, she was practically bouncing with anticipation. Tara came up behind her and wrapped her in a hug. Leaning back into her wife Willow said, "Can you believe it? In a little while, we'll be able to see Tok'ra start to be built right before our eyes."

Tara nodded into Willow's neck as she kissed her. "Calm down, Willow," she teased.

"But, it's so exciting, we're creating history today! Just think, years from now kids will learn about this! Our kids will learn about this and be able to say that their Moms made it happen." Willow was about to continue but Tara cut her off with a passionate kiss. Once she was done the only thing Willow could say was, "Wow," as she snuggled into her wife's embrace.

Xander smiled at Willow and Tara, he wished Faith could be here, but her punishment had only just started. "Alright," Xander said. "Enterprise, are we ready to start building Tok'ra?"

"Yes, Captain," The Enterprise responded. "All the crystals have been programmed and verified. Awaiting your command to initiate terraforming."

Willow squealed as Xander said, "Enterprise, initiate Terraforming of Tok'ra."

A moment later the Enterprise said, "The first phase has begun, Captain. Estimated time to completion is twelve hours."

Xander nodded, "Inform me if there are any issues that come up, otherwise implement the next stages following Willow's timetable."

"Affirmative Captain," The Enterprise responded.

Below the Enterprise the city of Tok'ra was starting to form. All told it would take up almost a fifth of the total land available on Tau'ri. When combined with the new military base one fourth of the island would be in use. The Scoobies had already decided that they wanted to make sure that most of the island would remain undeveloped and preserved for later generations.

The crystals the Enterprise had transported down had been heavily modified. The Tok'ra had been using them for centuries; however, they never thought to innovate. Since the crystals did their job there really was no need to improve them. The Scoobies had taken one look at the technology and realized the possibilities. The first batch of crystals would be setting up the roads, sewer, electrical and water systems. They had even been able to adjust the color of the crystals. Where the Tok'ra just used the crystals the color was a bluish steel. The main color for the tunnels was now a rose quartz. Sewer lines were a yellow color, water was aquamarine and electrical was white. Everyone agreed it made sense to color code the crystals. According to their calculations, the crystals roads would have no problem holding the weight of the various vehicles that they knew they would have to use. Only the women had been willing to admit how excited they were at the thought of how beautiful the city would look with the sunlight shining on the rose colored streets.

Three weeks had passed since Doyle found himself on Pylea. He still wasn't sure what the hell was going on. Fred was a smart girl but she had been alone for a long time and was more than a bit crazy. She was also scary smart. And when she had one of the guns in her hands she was just scary. Three days after Doyle arrived they had run into a group of demons. Fred killed all five of them in less than sixty seconds. At first, Doyle had been shocked until Fred pointed out which one was one of the local priests, and how the other four were his bodyguards.

Doyle still hadn't been able to find his demon half. He wasn't ready to think that he was one hundred percent pure human yet, but he was willing to believe that there was something about Pylea that prevented him from showing his Brachen side.

Doyle hummed to himself as he stirred the small pot of water he had heating over the fire. The gear that he had been provided with had included some simple camping utensils. Fred had been almost as excited to see those as she had been to find the beef enchilada M.R.E.'s.

Fred came into the main cave area and stood for a moment watching Doyle. She knew she had been going slowly insane, and part of her feared that this was all a dream, that she had finally completely snapped. The things that calmed her down were the small things. The weight of the pistol on her hip. The feeling that she was no longer starving. Even when she could get enough to eat the food available on Pylea seemed to lack something, most likely some of the trace elements that humans needed to maintain good health. Fred knew that in just the last three weeks she had gained several pounds. And while she liked the beef enchiladas, if she was crazy they would have been tacos. Plus Doyle, as a savior was not her dream guy. Sure he was decent enough to look at, but she would never have called him her type.

Walking over to Doyle she said, "So, water almost ready?"

"Yeah just give it a few more minutes and it'll be ready," Doyle replied. Fred nodded as she sat down on the makeshift stool they had created. It was fantastic the things you could do if you had tools. Fred pulled out her copy of _Portals for Dummies_ and started to read it again. By this time she had read it several times through. But each time she did, she seemed to understand more. Doyle watched her as she opened the book and shook his head. He had tried to read it, but aside from the jokes he just didn't get it. "Aren't you bored reading that thing again?"

"Nope," Fred said. "It gets better everytime. It's like I learn something new every time I look at it. The diagrams and the math just make more sense. It almost feels like if I keep reading it I'll eventually be able to understand how to open one of the portals."

"Didn't you say you'd need a God of some kind to help with that?" Doyle asked. "I don't think Jesus or the Virgin will be listening here. Don't get me wrong, being half demon I might be a wee bit skeptical. But who do you plan to call on to get the thing to work?"

Fred paused, "I don't know. I mean if nothing else I could just try it like it's written here. You know just pray to Shemp. I mean really what's the worst that could happen?"

"Ah," Doyle began. "You could open up a portal to an even worse Demon realm and we'd be killed if we were lucky."

Fred scoffed at Doyle, "Don't be such a downer. I mean really I don't think Shemp would be that kind of a God."

"Darlin," Doyle said. "You're talking about one of the three bloody stooges as if he was a real God of some kind."

"Well, why couldn't he be?" Fred asked. "I mean Jesus was a carpenter. So why couldn't a God be a comedian? And maybe laughter was how he did his miracles."

"Don't get me wrong," Doyle said defensively. "I've got nothing against a God that's not all fire and brimstone. And one that doesn't seem to have it in for all demons, well that would be a good thing. But I just don't think that there could really be a God that acts like Shemp did in the movies. It would be nice if there was one. But I think it might be better if you called on the Powers rather than try a made up God."

"How do you know Shemp is a made up God?" Fred asked. "I mean compared to your _Powers_? Have you personally met these Powers?"

"Well no," Doyle admitted. "I was just the messenger. I'd get the visions and take it to the champion."

"So how do you know your visions came from these Powers?" Fred pressed.

"That's easy," Doyle replied. "Guy by the name of Whistler told me all about them when I first started having visions. He clued me in on the whole deal."

"And how do you know this _Whistler_ was telling the truth?" Fred asked. Fred wasn't really sure why she was making such a big deal out of this. But ever since reading the book, she kept thinking about it more and more. Even to the point where each night as she went to sleep she was reciting the dedication ritual in her head. Dedicating herself to Shemp. Honestly, she didn't see any harm in it since the book specifically said you had to do the _physical_ ritual to actually dedicate yourself to a God. And part of her just replaced Jesus with Shemp in her mind. Except Shemp seemed like he would be a whole lot more fun than Jesus. No _Thou Shall Not…_ instead he seemed like he would just want to have a good laugh. Every night she seemed to have at least one dream featuring him, usually playing some kind of a prank on someone. Fred could really get to like a God like Shemp.

"Well, he works for the Powers that Be," Doyle explained. "He told me so himself showed me where the Oracles lived. Really he knew his stuff."

"Uh hum," A skeptical Fred said. "Sounds like he just said the right words and looked the part. I mean really why not just have some watery tart show up and give you a sword to say you're now the King of England? I mean if these Powers really are the good guys why wouldn't they be asking for volunteers? You told me yourself that at first, you didn't want the visions. And you told me how much they hurt. The fact that these Powers would inflict them on you without even asking tells me they are not good guys. In fact, I think they sound more like a bunch of Assholes!"

"Well they sent me here," Doyle said.

"Oh really," Fred asked. "How sure are you of that? The last thing you remembered was a flash of light that should have killed you, right? Then you show up here with the Magic backpack, all the gear it had inside and no idea how you got here."

"And what's your point?" Doyle asked.

"My point is I don't think the Powers sent you at all," Fred said. "I bet they would have just let you die. I think it was Shemp. Because the books talk about him, and if the Powers had sent it they wouldn't want you or me to call on something other than themselves. Ergo, Shemp must have saved you and sent you to me."

Doyle just looked at Fred, he was sure she had to be wrong. The Powers must have sent him. He had tried to sacrifice himself to save a champion and a bunch of innocents. That wouldn't be something that the Powers overlooked. However, Doyle didn't want to get into an argument with Fred. "Water's ready," Doyle said changing the subject. "Shall we eat?"

Fred nodded as the two of them sat down to eat.

Cordelia shouldn't have been surprised to see Jono sitting alone in the Magic Box. Ever since everything had started Giles had not been able to keep it open regularly. And with his new responsibilities he was mostly using it as a place to work out the future of the Watchers.

For Jonathan, ever since Drusilla told him that Harmony was pregnant he had gone into shock. Jonathan had been unable to speak for several hours as his mind tried to reboot. Walking over to him she sat down. "What's up Jono?" Cordelia asked. When he didn't respond she finally slapped him upside the head.

"What," Jonathan sputtered. Looking around he saw Cordelia. "Hey, why'd you hit me?"

"Because you were spacing out," Cordelia said. "Now what's going on? Are you still freaked out about Harmony?"

"Oh God," Jonathan moaned. "I can't believe she's pregnant. I mean I'm not ready to be a Dad. And I really don't want to marry Harmony. What am I going to do?"

Cordelia could see the panic starting to rise in Jono's eyes. "First you're going to take a chill," Cordelia ordered. "So Harmony's pregnant, it doesn't mean you have to marry her. We're not stuck in the fifties. But you do need to figure out whether or not you're going to be a Father or just a sperm donor."

"What?" a confused Jonathan asked.

"Simple," Cordelia said. "A Father is there for their kid. Anytime the kid needs them they are there for them. Giles is a Father. Even if he didn't know Xander and Tara where his kids he has tried to be a Father for them, Buffy and Willow too. But a sperm donor doesn't give a damn. A sperm donor isn't there for their kids when the tough times come. They could care less about what happens to their kids." Cordelia paused, "So you need to decide which one you're going to be."

Jonathan didn't even need a minute to think, "I want to be a Father. If I helped create a baby, then I want to be there for the kid no matter what."

Cordelia smiled at him, "See that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Jonathan smiled back at her, "No I guess not. But what am I going to do about Harmony? I mean she's hot. But I really don't want to be stuck as her husband or boyfriend for the rest of my life."

Cordelia snorted. "Yeah, I don't think that will be a problem."

"What...No, how do you know that it won't be a problem?" Jonathan asked.

"I know Harmony," Cordelia said. "And I just don't see her ever wanting to be tied down to one guy or a bunch of kids. In fact, let me ask you something. Ever since you found out she was pregnant has she even come over?"

Jonathan thought for a minute, "Well no," he admitted. "But I figured that she was busy with Drusilla and Spike. I mean she was really happy to see them again. So I just thought she was busy."

"I think it may be safe to say that now that she has gotten what she wanted from you," Cordelia began.

"Wait," Jonathan interrupted. "What do you mean, 'Gotten what she wanted from me' Do you mean she was just using me?"

Cordelia looked at Jonathan and then slapped him on the back of the head again. "Well Duh," she said. "Harmony has always been a user. Just because she's physically different now does not mean that her personality has changed. I think she had a biological imperative, and you filled the requirements."

"Biological Imperative," Jonathan asked. "What you mean she was in heat or something? And what requirements?"

"Jono," Cordelia began. "I know you're not stupid. What are the requirements to touch a Unicorn? I mean you're a great guy, but I also know that you would have met the major requirement for touching a unicorn. The other requirement was probably the fact that you were a male. I doubt she could have gotten pregnant from a female virgin."

"Hey," Jonathan protested. "I wasn't a virgin!" Jonathan quickly found himself wilting under Cordelia's glare. "OK maybe I was, but still…"

"Whatever," Cordelia said. "It's not like it's that big of a deal. The main thing you need to do is talk to her about what is going to happen with the baby after it's born. I mean if it comes out as another Unicorn then I could see it staying with Harmony, but if it looks like a normal baby then I think you'd want to have it living with you, right?"

Jonathan felt his panic starting to rise again. He decided, though, _I'm going to be a Father, not a Sperm Donor!_ Fighting the panic down, he nodded his head. "Yeah you're right. And at least thanks to all of you guys I have a great job. And either way, I can raise my kid on the Island. So he or she won't have any of the problems that they would around normal people." Jonathan was starting to feel excited. "I bet I could teach them magic from like the time they can talk. It will be so cool, they'll get to grow up learning magic and science together!"

Cordelia nodded, "See that's the right attitude!"

Jonathan looked at Cordelia, he knew a few years ago she wouldn't have cared enough to stop and help him. But it was obvious how much she had changed. "Thanks, Cordelia," he said. "I was really going crazy there. And I know you didn't have to help, but I really appreciate it. Now I've got to go find Harmony and start talking to her. Maybe Eir can tell us if the baby will be a Unicorn or Humanoid." Jonathan got up and grabbed his stuff leaving to find Harmony.

"That was a very good thing you did, Cordelia," Giles said from behind the counter. "I was waiting to talk to the lad later. But it looks like you were able to help him."

Cordelia blushed at Giles praise. "Thanks, Giles," she said.

"Think nothing of it, Cordelia," Giles said. "And how are you doing today?" He asked with a pointed gaze.

Cordelia looked at him, "Depends on which part of my life you're asking about."

"I heard you mention Drusilla," Giles said. With that, he waited for Cordelia to respond.

""You mean my psycho, half sister?" Cordelia said. "How can I not be great! My life is fantastic, I don't have to worry about migraines destroying my brain anymore. But now I have an ex-vampire who somehow is now my half-sister, even though it's absurd to think we would have anything near a shared parent. And she keeps hitting on Xander and Faith, who are now my Boyfriend and Girlfriend. What's not great about that?"

The tests that the Asgard had performed had shown that Drusilla shared almost thirty percent of the same genes as Cordelia. Normally for a half sister or brother, it would only be up to twenty-five percent. But somehow for Drusilla nothing was normal.

"Indeed," Giles said smiling at Cordelia. "Magic is very hard to understand at times. And when you add in the sheer randomness that Xander seems to bring with him… Well, it becomes quite impossible to follow. And I am mostly certain that Drusilla is teasing, I do not believe she is seriously trying to get either Xander or Faith into her bed."

Cordelia snorted, "Giles I can guarantee you that if they said they were interested she would take them both to bed in a heartbeat."

"Well," Giles said. "I suppose we should be grateful that neither of them appears interested. So Boyfriend and Girlfriend?"

Cordelia blushed, she hadn't meant to let something like that slip out. "Maybe," she admitted. "We had a great time on our date. And I have been getting closer and closer to them both. Xander has changed so much since when I last saw him. Or maybe not so much changed as he quit being overlooked. And Faith, well she's not what I thought she was entirely. She's wild and dangerous at times. But she also cares and wants people to care about her too." Cordelia had begun to smile as she thought of both Xander and Faith.

"Yes, yes she does," Giles agreed. "Unfortunately for all of us, we were never allowed to see that because of the games Whistler and the Powers were playing." Cordelia nodded her head in agreement. "And if you and they are happy together," Giles smiled. "Then I am happy for you." Cordelia was surprised by Giles as he took a moment to close the distance between them, and hugged her. "I am so very pleased that you came back, my dear."

Cordelia was shocked, Giles was not a hugger! But he was hugging her. It had been years since the last time she felt someone hug her like this. Her parents had stopped showing real affection before she was ten. And all during high school the only time someone was this close was usually when a guy was trying to get in her pants. Although several times Xander had hugged her in the _I care about you as a person as well as because you're my girlfriend way._ Cordelia relaxed and returned Giles hug. "Thank you, Giles." She said, "You've definitely changed. Before all of this happened, you would have never given me a hug."

"Yes, well," Giles began. "I've found that since the cleansing rituals and having become so close to the people who have been sharing my life, that I am loath not to show you all how important you are to me."

Cordelia snorted again, "You could just admit you like hugging us."

"Cordelia my dear," Giles said with a smile. "Whilst it is true that I care deeply for all of you, I am British and certain things are just not done!"

"Oh, What things," Cordelia asked.

"Things like telling your children that you love them," Giles said. "Even when it is an undeniable fact. Why if I were to just come out and tell you children that I love you, it would cause all sorts of problems." Cordelia laughed and hugged Giles again warmed by his presence.

Onboard the Enterprise, Xander was watching as their new city was taking shape. Granted right now it was only the streets and utility tunnels but he could already see where certain sections had been completed. Xander pulled the resolution of the scanners in tight so that he could examine the tunnels. Something looked off, but he really couldn't put his finger on what it was.

 _"What am I missing,"_ Xander thought. Still unable to see what it was he turned to Willow and Tara. "OK, something's not right with the images but I can't figure out what it is," he said. "Can you girls help me out?"

Both Tara and Willow started examining the images. After a minute or two Willow said, "It's the shadows. Or the shading in the tunnels they don't look right. The crystal should be a lot clearer, I mean not like glass clear but it looks too dark."

Tara nodded in agreement, "It's like something was left behind. Could we have messed up the formula? I mean sure it worked in our models, but this, whatever it is, shouldn't be there. And look if you follow the tunnel there are those odd colorations every hundred feet."

Willow turned to Xander, "We should go look. I'm sure it's probably nothing serious but we should still look. And It's still early enough that maybe we can check out one of the beaches."

Xander looked at Willow, "Are you trying to get me in trouble? If I go hang out at a beach, without Faith and Cordy, do you know what the two of them would do to me? And since Faith is doing that punishment thing that Joyce set up, she can't come right now."

"So," Tara said with a smile, "I guess I'll just have to suffer a beautiful beach all alone with my wife." She sniffed dramatically, "Oh, the agony."

Willow laughed giving her a quick kiss. "Somehow I think we'll be able to survive."

"Fine," Xander grumbled. "Let's hurry up and check this out. Otherwise, I think we will need to hold off on phase two." Both of them nodded in agreement. "Enterprise, please beam us down to the coordinates showing on the screen."

"Affirmative, Captain," The Enterprise replied as it transported the three of them down to the planet below.

The island of Tau'ri was beautiful, and the addition of the crystal roads caused the natural sunlight that filtered through the trees to cast prismatic rainbows in unexpected ways. All three of the Scoobies started inspecting the tunnels. From the outside, they used one of the maintenance hatches and entered the tunnel. The tunnel was ten feet high at its apex, and thirty feet wide. Xander went to one of the electrical conduits first to try and identify why the colors were off.

"Hey, Willow, Tara, what does that look like to you," Xander asked pointing to the electrical lines. Willow and Tara both came closer looking at it.

"Metal?" Tara said. "Why would the lines be filled with some kind of metal?"

"More like how did they get filled," Willow added. "I mean that wasn't in out plans. So how did it get there?"

"Could someone else have modified the crystal matrix? Before we sent them down. Maybe Giles or Cordelia?" Tara said. "I mean Cordelia worked with us enough on creating them that she could have modified them."

"Well once we finish here we can ask everyone," Xander said. "Come on let's take a look at the other shadows we saw." Walking down the tunnels, The natural light from outside gave everything a rose-tinted hue. Coming up to the first mound all three of them were shocked. "Ok, why are there bars of metal sitting in the tunnel?"

Willow looked closer at the stack of metal, "I think these are all precious metals. Look this one looks like it's silver and there is a gold one in there too," She said pointing at several of the bars.

"Where did all of this come from?" Tara asked. "I mean this is too organized to have been some random programming error."

Willow, who had been examining at the bars said, "I don't think this is random. We have gold and silver here. And I think some platinum. And some of these bars I could not even guess what they are without a lab…" Willow's eyes started to unfocus as she was thinking. "Oh, Oh… No Way!"

Xander looked at her, "No way what Willow?"

Willow smiled at him and broke into Willow babble., "I know where these bars came from. Sort of, I mean I still don't know why they were created by the crystals. I mean I didn't figure that part out. I guess it could have been a programming error, but it doesn't seem likely because that would be a really specific error to have it work out like this it's a lot more likely that someone altered the program so we just need to figure out who changed everything."

Tara pulled her wife into her arms, "So where did these come from?" She asked with a kiss.

"It's trace elements," Willow said. "You know how there are trace elements found all over, not enough to really do anything with, that's why they're called trace elements. I think that when the crystals were breaking down the dirt and stuff, somehow they shifted out the trace elements. And that's why we have these bars. I bet they also created the metal in the electrical lines. Or at least, I don't know maybe the metal is meant to be the electrical line? If it is that would save us so much time, we wouldn't have to have people running cable."

Xander nodded the explanation made as much sense as anything else. "OK, still I think we might want to call a Scooby meeting. See if anyone changed anything, or at least try and figure out why this happened."

Willow and Tara both nodded in agreement, "Wait," Tara said, "Does this mean we don't get our beach time?"

Xander smiled and said, "Enterprise, three to beam up."

Joyce loved being pregnant, and she hated it. The discomfort of having to go to the bathroom all the time, and the problems trying to sleep were bad enough. Of course, for her, the other problem was her libido, as she had told Rupert when pregnant she was almost insatiable. Thankfully Rupert did not seem to mind at all. Currently, she was watching images on her growing daughter. The scans that the Asgard could create were so much better than anything Earth had access to. At three months old the images could show her Dawn's tiny fingers and toes. Joyce smiled watching the developing face change its expressions.

Turning away from the screen Joyce forced herself to focus, Eir had been teaching her everything she could with regards to medicine, as the Asgard practiced it. Even then Joyce still needed a hands-on approach. As she had said to Eir, _"I know the physical science here," Joyce pointed to her own head. "But unless I can feel it with my talent, it's just not the same thing."_ This had lead Joyce to where she was now, Walter Reed Hospital, in Bethesda. Janet had suggested that Joyce tried to work with patients who were not going to survive for one reason or another. Most of these patients had chronic terminal diseases, cancer, leukemia, emphysema, they had all been told that they were being offered an experimental treatment. One that one day may help to make their conditions a thing of the past. These men and women had all volunteered to be part of the fake trials.

Janet Frasier looked over at Joyce, "You ready for this?" She asked with a smile.

Joyce nodded, "Definitely! How many am I going to be seeing today?" She asked as they walked into the hospital.

"I've set it up so that we'll take twenty patients today. All of them are terminal cases." Janet said. "In fact, most of them have less than three months to live. So anything you do can only help."

Joyce nodded, she knew that she might not be able to save everyone. But she's be damned if she wouldn't try.

Three was as displeased as a being like himself could be. For months now their plans had been derailed. The Asgard were now working with Humans in a way that would advance them too quickly. Almost all of their pawns had slipped their control. If the Powers could not regain control soon, Three realized they might have to allow most of humanity to be destroyed so that they could resume their plans.

Two came into the room where the Powers normally met, she was followed by One. "We have news," Two said. "Soon the Asgard, Furlings and Humans will begin creating their first ship using advanced technology."

"This was to be expected," Three said.

"We have a plan," One said. "The forces of the opposition on Earth could be of assistance to us. Kinsey could be used to sabotage the new ship. If the destruction is large enough we can mold their fears. We will cause them to turn away from the Asgard and the Furlings. They will be dependant on the Astria Portas. "

"They will be looking for deliberate actions. They are aware of us now. The signs all point to this," Three said.

"They will be looking for signs of deliberate sabotage," Two said. "This will not appear to be deliberate, this will be something they would see as an accident. One that comes about because the humans do not fully understand the science they are using. With the right timing, we should be able to remove the pieces that are no longer responding to us from the board."

"While this may be a setback for us," One said. "It is better than losing everything."

"What of the Slayer line," Three said. "The creature that possesses the power now is of no use to us. And if the knowledge ever finds its power, it could be reunified into a whole being once again."

"The Slayer line seems lost,"Two agreed. "However, the Mad Seer's curse could be of use to us. The former vampire is now a living being. If we breed it, we would have new pawns to use. Its powers may be better suited to our use than the Slayers were."

"It would need to be limited," One said. "We do not need a new breed of pawns. Two many of them and they will not obey us."

"Perhaps," Three said. "We offer to modify the curse for those in our service." Both Two and One looked at Three, this sounded intriguing.

"Modify how," Two asked.

"The curse was meant to cause pain," Three said. "What if we offered to delay the pain only so long as the creature was in our service?"

"Delay," One asked.

"Yes," Three said. "Delay, not stop. If the creatures ever were to leave our service all the pain which was delayed will be felt at once."

"The longer they were in our service the more painful it would be if they defied us," Two said with a smile. "No longer would we have to worry about one of our pawns disobeying."

"Let the creature breed," One said. "Only to our chosen ones do we offer the freedom from pain. All its other progeny should suffer. Then they will see being chosen as a great gift, a release from their torment." All three of the Powers could see the benefit of this. Buffy was not the first Slayer who had railed against her calling. If they could alter the perception that the calling was a burden to a blessing, the lesser beings would be eager to serve them.

"If we chose this path," Two said. "We must modify the Champion before it breeds."

"But it must breed," Three said. "And if it sees its progeny in pain it may stop before we have enough of them."

"We will cause the changes to begin at the start of their maturation. They will have their childhood spent only enjoying the benefits of the curse. Once they are mature enough to start breeding then the pain starts. This will bind them to us even more," Two declared.

"Cause the pain to be lessened when they engage in breeding," One said. "This will encourage them to spread their progeny."

Two and Three looked at one, "Agreed," they said.

"We must send a vision to the lost Champion. Send him to our Oracles and they can perform the spell to bind him to us." One said. "Once the binding is complete we will have all we need from him. Then we must send him to destroy the corrupted Slayer. It is too dangerous to allow it to continue."

"If he simply destroys it," Three said. "Then it will move to another potential. We must have it contained. He must be forced to capture it. From there, we will bind it further. We must ensure that its other half never finds it."

"Let us also begin moving the others into place. Even if we can no longer directly maneuver the Slayer and our other pieces, we are still able to move those around them," Two said. All three agreed, beginning the new moves in their plan.

Spike watched as Drusilla played with Harmony. Harmony was currently in her Unicorn form. Drusilla was riding her, bareback, as the former cheerleader ran around the paddock. Spike had to admit, Dru had changed, before the trials, she could be vicious but generally she was too balmy to be dangerous for more than moments at a time. Now, now she was able to focus, and plan. Now she could see the big picture, and not get lost in her insanity.

Spike smiled, he had loved her insanity. But the new Drusilla, she was so much more. She still would have the moments of insane passion, but now they were directed, they were focused on helping her achieve her goals. And truth be told she was even sexier now. The fire that burned in her still drew him in, it made him willing to do anything for her. Watching her, Spike said, "I'm still a bitch for love."

Drusilla laughed as Harmony jumped over a ditch, "Faster my little pony," She yelled, "Faster!" Harmony responded lunging forward. Drusilla was ecstatic, riding in the sun, feeling the wind on her face. The sweet smells that surrounded her, as a vampire everything had an overlay of blood and death. While the vampire loved that, it also distorted the actual smells. Now Drusilla was free, free to enjoy everything around her.

As Harmony ran to where Spike was standing watching them Drusilla jumped off of her back into Spike's waiting arms. "Have a good time, Luv," Spike asked.

"Oh sweet William," Drusilla said, kissing Spike. "I'm so glad we didn't lose Harmony. I'm still not sure why she came back," Drusilla said as she looked at Harmony, "But I would have missed her so."

Harmony nuzzled Drusilla, "I love you, Auntie," she said.

"Well, of course, you do my sweet girl," Drusilla said as she stroked Harmony's cheek.

"How much longer do you think it'll be before they call," Spike asked.

Drusilla laughed, "My kitten will call soon. Soon those nasty powers will start moving pieces, here and there. They'll try and stop the tides, but they've forgotten they can't do that. Kitten opened Pandora's Box right up he did. But only Hope was left inside, so he's let hope out into the world. And those Powers won't be able to stuff it back inside."

"Doesn't mean what they do won't hurt," Spike said.

Drusilla leaned into Spike's embrace. "It will hurt a lot ," she agreed. "And before it's done all will seem lost. The Powers know they have to kill kitten he's corrupted their plans too often to be let go. They are going to try to remove him any way they can." Drusilla laughed, turning to face Spike she kissed him.

After a hundred plus years, Drusilla's mood swings were normal to Spike. "What's got you in such a good mood Luv?"

Drusilla's one-word answer was, "Faith." Drusilla broke out of Spike's arms and started to hum to herself as she danced in the sunlight.

Harmony looked at Spike, "Did she mean the Slayer?"

Spike lit his cigarette, after taking a drag he said, "Don't know. Could be her or could be something else." Spike continued to smoke as he watched Drusilla dance, a small smile on his lips.

Harmony stamped her hoof, "Don't know? Well that's just great." she said as she turned around and began to run once again.

Giles looked up from the papers he was working on as the door to the Magic Box opened. He was about to tell whoever it was that they were not actually opened when he saw Oz walk in with a large black man.

"Oz," Giles said with a smile, "It's good to see you again. Who is your friend?"

Cordelia looked up from her own work, "Gunn!" she yelled as she got up to hug him. "You decided to come visit."

"Hey Barbie," Gunn said, returning her hug. "Good to see you again."

"So how long are you staying," Cordelia asked as she motioned for Oz and Gunn to sit down. "Giles, this is Charles Gunn, a good friend from LA. Gunn this is Rupert Giles."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gunn," Giles said, extending his hand.

Gunn looked at him, "So this is G-dog? The man who always had the answers. Good to meet you," he said shaking Giles' hand.

"G-dog?" Giles said. "Dear Lord, please tell me my son did not put you up to that."

"Xander?" Gunn asked. "Nah, he's cool but he didn't say a lot about you, G-dog."

Oz was smiling as he watched the exchange. Cordelia looked and saw Oz's face. "Somehow I am sure that Xander had nothing to do with this," she said. "G-dog."

"Good Lord," Giles said. "I suppose I will never get away from these appalling nicknames you children choose for me."

Cordelia smiles at him, "Well Giles, it's how we show our love for you."

"Might I recommend in the future," Giles began, "A good book, or some tea. Those are excellent means of showing your affection."

"Vinyl," Oz said.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "That too would be most appreciated." Giles smiled at Oz. "What brings you both to Sunnydale?"

"Barbie wanted me to come stay with her for a while," Gunn said. "I figured now was a good time. With the changes that Bossman went through he's really not much fun to be around."

"Yes," Giles said. "Angel has always had a flare for the dramatic. Wesley told me how he reacted to the news of why he had been cursed."

"What," Cordelia said. "Why didn't you say something? What happened?"

"Sufficed to say," Giles said. "Angel is still in denial about himself and any wrongdoing he may have done. Frankly, the man has his head firmly shoved up his ass."

Gunn laughed, "Yo I though G-dog was all proper English."

Cordelia laughed as well, "What can I say, I think Giles just sometimes needs to let out his inner Ripper. So you'll both be staying right?"

Oz nodded, Gunn smiled and said, "Hell yes. You told me you have a kicking pad for me to crash at. So I figured I might as well check it out. Also wanted to make sure you were good with everything else going on with the ex-boyfriend."

"I believe you mean her current boyfriend," Giles said with a smile.

"What," Gunn said. "I thought he was with the hot Slayer."

Cordelia looked at Giles. She knew this was payback for the G-dog comment. "He is, well we are," she said.

"Woah, Barbie," Gunn said. "You telling me you got a boyfriend **and** a girlfriend?"

Cordelia Chase was not one to ever be ashamed of her actions unless she knew she had really screwed up. But she also knew this was not one of those times. Cordelia looked Gunn in the eyes and said, "Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

Gunn looked at her, "Hell yes," he said. "How come he gets so lucky? I mean damn, what do I have to do to get where he is?" Gunn asked with a smile.

"First you'd have to find two women as incredibly beautiful, kind and understanding as Faith and I are," she began. Oz finally lost it, he knew putting Gunn up to calling Giles G-dog would be entertaining, but he never thought it would be this good. Cordelia glared at him as he started to laugh. "Are you trying to say that Faith and I are not beautiful, kind and understanding?" She demanded.

Gunn started to laugh as well, "Beautiful, most definitely," he said.

"Yup," Oz agreed.

"Kind?" Gunn continued. "Understanding? I don't know about that. Less, of course, you mean something else with those words."

"I believe Cordelia is most kind and understanding of the faults of those who surround her," Giles said. "After all if she was not, I am sure she would be verbally ripping you both to pieces."

Cordelia smiled at Giles, "Thank you, Giles," she said. "And it's true it takes a great deal of kindness and understanding to put up with some people." She finished with a glare directed at Gunn. "And I suggest you be careful of what you say or I'll ask my girlfriend to use you as a training dummy."

Gunn laughed, "I'm just playing with you Cordy, sides I wouldn't want that little girl to get hurt coming after me."

Giles smiled, obviously, Gunn was not familiar with Slayers. Oz looked worried, Gunn had just stepped in it big time. Cordelia just smiled a predatory smile. "Oh I don't think you need to worry about Faith," she said. "But I'll tell you what. How about once Faith gets back from where she is now, we set up a little training spar. And if you win I'll owe you a favor of your choice?"

Gunn looked at Cordelia, something did not seem right. "I think I'm going to have to pass. I know you too well Barbie, you have that look in your eyes. And Grandma didn't raise me to be stupid." Turning to Oz he said, "What am I missing?"

"Slayer," Oz replied.

"Damn," Gunn said. "You mean like that Buffy, Angel and Wes are always talking about?" Oz nodded his head. Gunn turned back to Cordelia. "You were really trying to set me up. That's cold Barbie."

Cordelia smiled with an evil light in her eyes. "I can assure you that Faith is very, very hot," she said in a sultry voice.

Gunn looked at her, his mind automatically going to a picture of Cordelia and Faith together, "Damn!" He exclaimed with a shiver. "Ok, I give," Gunn said. "Please no more, Don't think I could take anything more."

Cordelia laughed, Oz nodded his head, "Smart," he said.

"Yes, I believe you have made a wise decision today," Giles said with a smile.

"So I know why Gunn is here, but what about you, Oz?" Cordelia asked. "Are you going to be staying as well? I mean after the Asgard upgrade I know we could really use your help. But what with everything with Willow…" Cordelia trailed off.

Oz nodded, "I'm staying. Things with Willow may not have worked out, but this is home. We're family. I only left because I needed to get control of the wolf. I'm good now."

"Wolf," Gunn asked.

"Werewolf," Oz replied pointing at himself.

"Damn," Gunn said. "Am I the only normal guy here?"

Cordelia arched her eyebrow, "What makes you so sure you're normal?"

Gunn looked at Cordelia, "I guess it you look at who I hang around with," he said. "I might have to recheck my definition of 'normal', cause normal we ain't."

Cordelia smiled at him, "Good answer. Now how about I'll take you two home with me. You can have the pool house for as long as you're here. And it better be a long time," she said as she grabbed Gunn and Oz by their arms and ushered them out of the store.

Ben Wilkinson knocked on the door in front of him. He was not looking forward to the mandated psych evaluation. From inside the office, a voice called out, "Come in." Ben opened the door and walked into a very comfortable looking was the standard couch off to one side as well as another door that was open to a smaller room where he could see a desk. As he walked into the room Dr. Hardy walked towards him. "You must be Ben Wilkinson," Stanley said. "Please come in have a seat," he motioned to the couch.

"Yes, that's me," Ben said, shaking Dr. Hardy's hand. "You're Dr. Hardy right?"

"Stanley laughed, "That's me, but please call me Stanley. I can see you're nervous but please don't be. These sessions are completely confidential. They primarily help to keep our insurance costs down. However, I believe they also help everyone by allowing them a safe place to vent and talk about whatever issues they are facing."

Ben nodded his head. "I guess, I mean I can see where it's a good thing to have that. But I'm really not sure that there is anything you could help me with."

Stanley nodded, "You may be right," he agreed. "I may not be able to help you, even if I wish I could. But maybe I can help you to see some options with your life that might not be obvious right now. And if nothing else the couch is very comfortable. So just think of this as a chance to come and unwind after a hard day's work."

Ben smiled, "That would be nice. They run us interns ragged."

Stanley nodded, "Well that's certainly true. Some things never change, and being the low man on the totem pole will probably always mean you get the crap jobs." Once Ben had sat down Stanley continued. "So Ben, please tell me about yourself. Where you grew up, what your likes and dislikes are. We'll take it slow, but basically, I want to get to know the real Ben Wilkinson."

Ben sighed, _"Yeah the real Ben Wilkinson has blackouts that he can't explain. And usually, when I come to I'm wearing women's clothing. How would you explain that, Stanley?"_ Instead of saying what he was thinking Ben started talking about his childhood and growing up.

Stanley sat back and listened to Ben, he knew this would not be an easy assignment. But Lord D'Hoffryn had ordered him here and he would find a way to grant Ben a wish.

Angel was not having a good day; hell he wasn't having a good year. While he was happy to be able to walk around in the day and eat normal food, without giving up on the strength and power he had as a vampire, Drusilla's curse had its downsides. Every time he ate something, it hurt. Just drinking something was like putting his tongue on a nine-volt battery. Not really painful but definitely annoying. What's more, he was completely alone. Cordelia was gone, and he knew she was not coming back. That bastard Harris had taken her away from him.

"Who the hell does he think he is," Angel said. "Bastard comes here and takes everything I earned away and acts like it's no big deal." Angel snorted as he took a drink from the bottle of whiskey sitting beside him. "Too bad Angelus never killed the bastard." Taking another drink he continued. "And everyone else abandoning me, Wesley, Gunn, Cordelia. If it weren't for me they'd all be dead. But now that Harris cured Cordelia they have better things to do." He took another drink. "Who the hell does Wusley think he is, saying I deserved to be cursed because I didn't stop the others. Fucking little bastard would have shat himself if he ever met Darla. Or the real Spike and Drusilla."

As Angel continued to bitch and moan about how everyone had betrayed him, he suddenly felt a blinding pain shoot through his head. A brilliant white light filled his vision, as spike's of pain hammered into his head. Angel cried out as he passed out on the table in front of him.

Angel opened his eyes and saw he was in a white room. Standing up he started to turn around, behind him he saw a familiar face, "Whistler?"

"Sort of," Whistler said. "Good to see you, Angel. And I'm like a recording from Whistler. Don't know what happened to the real me. But I know that Harris kid had something to do with it. Watch out for him," Whistler admonished.

"Little late for that," Angel said. "Bastards already come in and stole Cordelia from me. Along with everyone else, I had gathered to help fight."

Whistler nodded, "Sounds like him. You need to be careful of him. The Powers think he's working for something big, trying to corrupt the Champions."

"Well, why don't you guys just kill him then," Angel asked. "Hell, I'd be happy to do it for you, if you can help set it up."

Whistler shook his head, "Kids got some major backing. But don't worry, the Powers will find a way to take him out."

Angel smiled, imagining Harris dead brought a warm feeling to his heart. "I hope I get to see that," he said.

"We'll see," Whistler said. "Anyway, Harris is not the main reason you're here. The Powers know about the curse that Drusilla did on you."

"They're going to remove it?" Angel asked.

"Not all of it," Whistler said. "Since Harris seems to be corrupting the other champions, we need you, Angel. You're the only one who hasn't fallen. But as a normal human, you wouldn't be able to survive."

"So what," Angel asked. "You're going to turn me back into a vampire?"

Whistler shook his head, "That would be dumb. As it stands right now you're stronger than the Slayer used to be. You heal faster and have an inbuilt weapon. Why would we want to get rid of that?"

"I can understand that," Angel admitted. "But the whole pain thing that comes with this curse sucks."

Whistler nodded, "That's the part we're going to help with. See Angel, it looks like Harris has corrupted the entire Slayer line. We think he may have been planning this from way back where he brought the blonde back to life. She was meant to die, and you were meant to avenge her. Instead, Harris brought her back, breaking an unbreakable prophecy. The Powers didn't see what that would mean in the long run. But now we know, it was a plot to destroy the Slayer line."

Angel was shocked, he knew Harris was a bastard. But to think the kid had never really been human and had been playing them all along. "You can still stop him right?"

Whistler shook his head, "It's too late. He succeeded, the Slayer line has been completely lost. The spirit of the Slayer has been so corrupted that when it goes into the new Slayer she becomes a killing machine. The current Slayer is in South America, killing anyone and anything that comes in front of her."

Angel was shocked, it didn't seem possible, "But the world needs the Slayer. What are we going to do without her?"

"Glad you asked," Whistler said with a smile. "The Powers realize they need a Champion as well. But with the Slayers gone, they needed to look for something or someone to replace them."

"How can I help," Angel asked.

"The Power want you to replace the Slayer line," Whistler said.

"What do I need to do?" Angel asked.

"I knew you were a true champion," Whistler replied. "Basically, the Powers need you to go to the Oracles. They'll help fix the curse that the crazy chick cast on you. You'll still get all the perks and the Powers will make sure you don't feel the downside as long as you're their champion. Same goes for your kids."

"Kids?" Angel asked.

Whistler nodded. "Harris destroyed the entire Slayer line. Means the Powers lost all of the potentials too. So they want you to be the Father of the new line. All of your kids and their kids will have the possibility to become a Champion for the Powers. Because of you, the world will be saved from the forces of Evil."

Angel puffed out his chest, Whistler's words were so true. He was meant to be the Champion who would save the world. Not someone like Harris, the evil bastard had played them all. Angel understood now why Angelus never killed Harris: Angelus somehow knew which side Harris was really working for.

"I'll do it," Angel said. "But how am I going to be able to save people and raise a bunch of kids at the same time?"

"Don't worry about that," Whistler said. "I'm sorry to say your main job will just be sleeping with the mothers. You get them pregnant and the Powers will look after them and your kids. They'll make sure the kids are treated right." Whistler held out his hand. "I know it's a lot to ask. But you have to trust the Powers. The thing we need you to do is sleep with a lot of women. The Powers are going to be sending you all over the world. We need to have possible Saviors in every country in case one needs to be called."

" **Savior** ," Angel said. "Sounds better than Slayers. What about the Slayer in South America? Can I help take her down?"

"If you kill her," Whistler said. "Spirit will just jump to the next girl."

"So we capture her," Angel said. "Put her in some kind of coma, so she can't hurt anyone else."

Whistler nodded, "Good idea, Angel. The Powers will let you know through the Oracles what to do with her. Our times almost up, but I have one favor to ask."

"Anything," Angel said. "You helped save me, brought me to Buffy. What do you need."

"I'm pretty sure Harris killed me," Whistler said. Angel looked shocked. "I told you I'm sort of a recording. But if you get the chance, make the bastard hurt."

Angel nodded his head, "I promise if I get the chance I'll make sure Harris pays for what he's done. To you, Buffy, Cordelia, hell for what he's done to everyone!"

"You're a pal, Angel," Whistler said. "As soon as you wake up go to the Oracles. Avoid Harris and any of the ones he's corrupted."

Angel nodded his head, "How do I get to the Oracles?"

"Soon as you wake up you'll know," Whistler said as the room faded out.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Disclaimers: I do not own Buffy, MASH, Stargate, Charmed, NCIS, Bones. I can not even claim any original characters for this story.

This is purely written for fun and not for profit. Just my take on a what if.

Any mistakes found they're all on me.

Also Please leave a review if you like the story. It really is encouraging, at least to me.

 **0o0o0_0o0o0**  
Chapter 16  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

Robert Kinsey was not a happy man. As he sat at the table with other power players, Kinsey was disgusted by the need to work with demons. But the price for power had to be paid.

Holland Manners said, "For the last several months things had been spiraling out of control. The Stargate program, which should be focused on bringing advanced technologies to Earth, and more importantly to bring them under our control, has had too many drastic changes come into play. The DRI is now a complete loss."

"We're already aware of that Holland," Kinsey said. "We did manage to salvage most of the technical information that Dr. Walsh had created." Kinsey didn't bother to add his personal thoughts, _The chips she had been working on had held so much promise. Once they were perfected I would have been able to ensure that all US service personnel were chipped. That would have been the start of ensuring my personal rise to power. It would have also ensured that I would never have to worry about losing my power._ "It's the Asgard and these damn Furlings! If they had never come along, then our plans would have been fine. So what are we going to do about them?"

"Currently even a temporal shift is impossible," Cyvus Vail commented. "Something at least as powerful as the Senior Partners used to be, has locked the timeline into place. Right now reality is fixed." Most of those at the table were not pleased to hear that one of their most powerful abilities had been taken out before they could even use it.

"We need to get back to the basics," Holland said. "We've gotten too used to using the more esoteric means of controlling everything. Instead, I believe we should look at good old fashioned bribery, intimidation, and extortion. If we can get the right people in place we can make sure that they take out the Furlings. And if we do it right when we destroy them, we should be left in control of any technology that they have already developed." Around the table, the various beings were nodding their heads in agreement.

"Even if we were unable to destroy them," Cyvus said. "We just need them driven off of this world. With them out of the picture, we would easily be able to resume our rightful places."

"We'll need to insert our own people into the training programs that the Furlings and SG-1 are creating," Holland said. "We'll need people that have a complete understanding of the technology, how it works, how to create things with it. Our offices should not have any problems making sure that our people can pass any background checks."

"I still have enough pull, that I will place a dozen people in the program," Kinsey said. "They will be our sacrificial lambs. While SG-1 and the Furlings are concentrating on them, we can use other means to slip our real agents into the program."

Cyvus laughed, a hoarse wheezing sound. "They have even agreed that they will take peaceful demons. This should make it easy for us. We just need to have the right hostages and get the right contracts signed to ensure loyalty."

"I've already heard rumors that the Furlings are going to help Earth create our first combat spaceships," Kinsey said. "If we can make it a big enough deal, we should try and sabotage the unveiling. Blow them all to hell," Kinsey smiled. "If we time it right we could also take out most of the people who would block us based on _Principles_." Everyone at the table looked disgusted by the very idea that anything like that could influence someone.

"They have a powerful seer on their side with the Chase girl," Cyvus said. "We'll need to focus our efforts on making sure that she does not get a clear glimpse of what is coming. My people will make sure that the future remains clouded for her."

"What about other seers," Kinsey asked.

"Anyone who is on the side of the Powers will be unable to get a clear vision," Cyvus said. "At least not until whatever we have in place is just about to happen. And anyone else may get fragments of what we're planning, but as long as they don't run to tell the Furlings, we won't have to worry about them."

Kinsey smiled, "If possible I want O'Neill spared when we kill everyone else."

Holland laughed, "Ah, wanting to rub Salt in the wounds, Robert?"

Kinsey nodded, "It would be even better if we could use him as a scapegoat. Tie everything that happened back to him." Kinsey's smile had grown even more sinister. "We kill his daughter the Slayer, along with all the other Furlings, and make everyone blame him for it. I think that's a fitting end to someone who has stood in our way over the last few years." The beings sitting at the table chuckled as they appreciated the pain this would cause Jack O'Neill.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

Hathor looked over the group of one hundred men who stood before her. Each of them had been chosen for their physical qualities to be the first of her new Jaffa. Most of the men had come from various special forces groups. Her first prime had recommended them based on their combat abilities. It had taken almost three months to recreate the technology used to convert Tau'ri into Jaffa. It would have been impossible if she had not had the items she had taken from the initiative base. The lack of naquida would have doomed her to failure before she had even started. **"** **Each of you has come to be blessed by me today,"** Hathor said. **"** **You have each pledged your lives to my service. Today I accept that pledge and will elevate you. You will be blessed to be the first of my new Jaffa. You will be stronger than ever. I will grant you longer lives, never again will you fall to sickness or disease of any kind."**

The assembled men looked on at Hathor, adoration shining from their eyes. As one they shouted, "Hail Hathor, Blessed be the name of our Goddess!" None of these men were currently under the influence of Nish'ta. Instead, Hathor had used a combination of Nish'ta and Tau'ri brainwashing methods. The knowledge of her host had been very useful it producing optimal results in that regard. As a final test of loyalty, each of these men had been required to kill the person closest to them, using them as a sacrifice to Hathor. Each of these men had gladly slaughtered wives, mothers or children in the name of their Goddess to prove their loyalty.

 **"** **Drink my children."** Hathor commanded. **"** **When you awaken you will start your new lives as my trueborn sons."** Each of the men present took a cup from one of the tables and drank. Soon they had all fallen unconscious and others came into the room to begin carrying them to the chamber Hathor had prepared. Once they had been placed in the chamber they would be altered and then moved to another room where the Prim'ta were waiting for implantation.

As Hathor watched another door opened and her first Prime entered. Once he was close to her he kneeled down and bowed his head to her. "I have news Mother," Forrest said. "We have located Angleman."

Hathor smiled at the news, **"** **Has he been captured?"**

"I was awaiting your orders, Mother," Forrest said. "He is currently hiding in the city of Miami. Members of the Cartel are monitoring him at all times."

 **"** **I want him brought to me immediately,"** Hathor demanded. **"** **You should have had him with you when you brought me the news. You have displeased me!"** Hathor held up her hand and focused the Kara Kesh on her first prime. Activating it she smiled as she watched her first prime suffer. Hathor was even more pleased when he did not even cry out in pain. Turning off the Kara Kesh she said. **"** **Bring him to me immediately. I want him captured today. If he is not in front of me by tomorrow I will show you my displeasure."**

"I will send the orders to have him brought to you immediately, Mother," Forrest replied. Standing up he did not show any signs of the fact that he had just been tortured.

Hathor smiled, **"** **Soon I will know exactly what that worm did to me. And once I know that; I will ensure that he fixes me so that I can take a more fitting host."**

 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

In the darkness, the Slayer hunted. She smiled as she looked down at the small group of homes below her. There were five buildings located on this plantation. One was a dorm room for the workers. Another dorm-like building held a group of twenty soldiers. Two were used by the upper management and the last one was used by the cartel bosses.

The Slayer heard the leaves near her russell. She turned and looked at the vampire who had approached her, "Quiet you fool," she hissed. "You sound as loud as the sheep down below!"

The vampire Quipa nodded, fright clearly visible in his eyes. He had heard stories of the Slayers in his one hundred and twenty years. He had hoped to avoid them here in the jungles of Peru. Instead, this small girl had come into the layer he had shared with his master and decimated the nest. She had offered his master the choice of joining her or dying. His master Manuel Espinoza had been over two hundred years old, a conquistador who was turned while traveling to the new world. He had laughed at the small child in front of him. She had only smiled and said, "Bow down before me and I will allow you to swim in rivers of blood."

"And if I refuse," Manuel had asked. "What you will kill me? Who do you think you are?"

The little girl had smiled, "If you refuse I will keep you alive," she said. "I will tear off your arms and legs and use you as a footstool. I will kill one in every ten of your children and force you to watch as I take everything from you. I am the Slayer."

Manuel had looked at the little girl and scoffed, "You the Slayer? Everyone knows that the Slayer is at the Boca del Inferno. Kill her." He ordered. Quipa remembered how quickly it had all unraveled. He did not even see the Slayer move. Manuel's words had been spoken and she had slammed a knife in the base of his skull. While Manuel was on the ground paralyzed, Quipa had been too shocked to move. Others in the nest had not been so lucky. As they attacked the Slayer had killed them. The nest had fifty vampires in it, Quipa didn't know how the Slayer knew their numbers when only ten to twenty were ever gathered together at once. But the Slayer had immediately dusted five of the attacking vampires. Then she started fighting dirty. Instead of dusting the other ten that were attacking she broke them. The Slayer broke bones, she shattered joints, she left them alive but screaming in pain. And the entire time she smiled, the more the vampires screamed; the more she smiled. Quipa was one of three vampires who had not attacked. That alone spared him a great deal of pain. And afterwards, he and everyone else had watched as the Slayer ripped the arms and legs off of Manuel. She then tied him to a small table and placed it in front of a chair. Sitting down she propped her feet up on his body. Manuel had tried to scream, but the Slayer had ripped out his tongue, she laughed as he tried to scream now.

"So do any of the rest of you object to serving me," she asked. All of the remaining vampires had readily agreed that she was now in charge. She had ordered Quippa to call the rest of the nest together, "Tonight we will gather cattle, their blood will be needed to heal those who raised their hands to me."

Quipa had obeyed her. That was what caused him to be here tonight. Almost thirty vampires had encircled the houses. The Slayer smiled as she ordered them to move closer. She quietly opened the door to the barracks. The soldiers inside were mostly sleeping. Their main job was to provide protection for the cocaine during transport. When they were not busy with that they usually stayed in their barracks and drank or took turns with raping some of the female workers. The one soldier sitting at the entrance looked at her and smiled.

"So little girl you come here so that we can show you a good time," he asked. He had assumed she had been sent by one of the bosses for the men to break her in. She was young but that had never stopped them from raping a girl before. The soldier stood up and walked towards her. He was already getting hard as he thought about what he was going to do to the young girl in front of him. "Don't worry chica we'll show you a good time," he said as he reached out to grab her.

The Slayer smiled as she quickly grabbed the arm that moved towards her. In one move she snapped the bones in his arm and pulled the man to the ground. Before he could cry out she used her other arm to pull him into a headlock. He hand kept him from speaking, he tried to struggle but the Slayer was too strong for him. She pulled him closer to the door, once at the door she whispered, "You're going to invite my friends inside," she said. "If you scream or try to do anything else I'll rip you dick off and feed it to you. Blink twice if you understand."

The soldier didn't know what was happening, all he knew was that this little girl had overpowered him and he knew that she was telling him the truth. He blinked twice, she nodded and opened the door, standing in front of the open doorway was a group of people he quietly whispered, "Please come inside." The people smiled as their faces changed, he wanted to scream but the little girl had a firm grip on his head. The Vampires rushed into the building and started to feed on the soldier. He was helpless to do anything as he heard them dying. The smell of blood was thick in the air as one of the vampires returned to the little girl.

"We have killed them all," Quipa said.

"Good," the Slayer said. "Have five of the men guard the building with the workers in it. If any of them try to escape break their legs. We'll be taking them with us when we leave." Pulling the solder to his feet she said, "Now you're going to invite my friend into the main houses as well. If you do as I say, I promise I won't kill you. You will be left alive when we leave."

The soldier nodded his head, he slowly got to his feet and started walking towards the nearest house. His pants were uncomfortable because of the cold sensation from where he had pissed himself in fear. But he knew that if he didn't obey he would be just as dead as his comrades were.

Quipa couldn't believe it, in less than an hour's time every vampire in the nest had feasted on the humans. The other three buildings had been destroyed once they had killed everyone inside. The only building left was the one holding the workers. Even that had been surprising, there was no barrier there preventing the vampires from entering. Once they were inside they had seen why. It wasn't a home it was a pen for holding slaves. The workers were chained to their beds. Many of them cowering in fear, they had heard the screams coming from outside and now the monsters were here. The vampires quickly unchained the humans and moved them to a truck they had waiting outside. "Don't worry," Quipa told a frightened girl. "We're taking you out of here to somewhere safe." The vampires would have laughed at how relieved the humans were if it wouldn't have spoiled the surprise.

As the last of the humans were loaded onto the truck Quipa watched as the Slayer turned to the human soldier. "I promised you that if you did what I said you would be left alive when we were done," she said.

"You did," the soldier said. "And I did everything you told me to do. So I can go now?"

The Slayer smiled, "I didn't say you could leave," she said. "I promised you would be left alive when we left." She smiled and her eyes glowed red as she snapped his other arm, the bones from the arm tearing through his flesh. As he screamed she repeated the process with his legs. She smiled as she left the bleeding soldier on the ground. His arms and legs were broken with the bones sticking out of his flesh. "I always keep my promises," she said as she led the remaining vampires to the waiting vehicles. "Enjoy your reward," she called out as they drove away.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

Stanley sat down as Ben entered his office for another session. Overall the plan had been working well, over the past several weeks Ben had revealed more of himself and his past. Granted Stanley already knew most of the details. But by guiding Ben to where he wanted him to go, Stanley thought they were almost ready for a wish.

"Ben," Stanley said as Ben sat down. "Good to see you again. I was worried when you missed our appointment yesterday. Is everything alright?"

Ben shook his head, "Not really," he admitted. "I had another one of my black outs." Opening up to Stanley about the periodic Blackouts that Ben had been experiencing the last few years had been hard. But Stanley had shown Ben that he was trustworthy, that he only had Ben's best interest at heart.

"Oh Ben," Stanley said. "I'm sorry to hear that. Was it like the others? Waking up in an unfamiliar place wearing women's clothing?" Ben nodded, he felt ashamed at what had been happening to him for the last few years. But Stanley had tried to help him see that it really was not his fault.

"You know Ben," Stanley said. "I think everything can be traced back to the car accident you had when you were a teenager. You told me that you blamed yourself for your girlfriend's death. Well, I think it was more than just that. I managed to pull some strings and found out that according to her autopsy she was pregnant."

"What," Ben exclaimed. "How… Why… Why wouldn't she have said anything to me?"

"Ben, calm down," Stanley said. "It looks like she was just barely pregnant. A few weeks along at best. It showed up in her blood work, but it is possible she hadn't even realized she was pregnant yet. However, the human body is an amazing machine. It takes in all sorts of signals that our brain can understand on a subconscious level. I believe that you knew she was pregnant, and subconsciously you have been punishing yourself."

"I don't understand," Ben admitted. "You think that me blacking out and dressing as a woman is something caused by my girlfriend and now unborn baby's death? How does that make any sense?"

Stanley chuckled, "Since when does the human mind make sense? I believe that what you are doing is trying to reconnect with what you had unknowingly lost. You mentioned in previous sessions how you dreamed of having a daughter since you were a little boy. You even mentioned how you could see her at times, a beautiful woman, strong and in control." Ben nodded his head in agreement. "I think losing a baby and your girlfriend at the same time, well look how it affected you. You haven't been in a stable relationship since then. A part of you doesn't think that you deserve to be happy."

Ben nodded, he felt a bit shocked at what Stanley was saying. "So what do I do Stanley? I mean I want to be happy, and I really want these blackouts to stop. How can I do it?"

Stanley felt like he was on the edge, soon he would be able to grant Ben a wish. He just needed to give the boy options. "Well, first I think we should look at what this new information means to you. Then I think you might benefit from a bit of 'what if'. Basically, we look at what you could change about yourself if you could wish for anything you wanted. Would you wish that you could always be in control? That instead of not understanding what was happening when you blacked out that you knew exactly why they were happening and you maintained control of yourself and your body? Or maybe you have the very common wish of any parent who lost their child, that it had been you instead of her that died that day. Personally, while it's an easily understood wish, I think it would be worse than being in control. If you had died your daughter would never have grown up knowing you. She would have been left alone, just like you were as a child."

Ben nodded he could see what Stanley meant. His childhood had not been a pleasant one. Growing up an orphan, never knowing his birth parents. There was no way he would have wished such a life on his own child. "I see what you mean," Ben admitted. "But how come you keep saying my daughter?"

Stanley smiled, "Well Ben, it's a bit of wish fulfillment. You've told me about your dreams, of the woman with blond hair and how you've seen her in your dreams for years; Of the strong connection you've always felt for her. And while there is no guarantee the child would have been a girl. I think for the purposes of this exercise we can say she would have been. After all, it won't hurt anything will it?"

Ben nodded his head, "I think you might be right, I mean, when I come out of a blackout, I seem to be wearing things that the woman in my dreams would have worn. So it's almost like I'm projecting her life onto my own?"

Stanley smiled, "That is certainly a possibility, Ben. So do you want to work on this? If so I'd really like you to contemplate what you wish you could change, how you'd like to be different. Once we have that out in the open we can start working on what we need to do to make it a reality."

Ben nodded, "Thank you, Stanley, I think I'd like to do that. I mean I know I'd like to do that. But honestly, I'm not sure what I would wish for right now."

Stanley felt a bit frustrated, but knew he was on the right track. "Don't worry about it Ben. How about you think about it for the next few days and then we can meet again and once you tell me what you've come up with we'll go from there?"

Ben nodded in agreement. "I'd really like that, Stanley." The meeting over Ben left feeling much more optimistic about his future.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

Faith dragged herself into her room, today had been hell, a living hell. She had taken her command up against a target, sure that they would win. It was a simple search and capture, or as the DI had said a more advanced form of capture the flag. She had split her group up to come in from multiple sides, while she would sneak in using her own abilities to stay hidden. Nothing had worked out like it should have. Her men had been 'killed' because the defending force had not been alone, Buffy's group had been assisting them. They had come in behind her first team and slaughtered them. Then they had taken out the secondary team leaving Faith all alone. Using hit and run tactics Faith had held out for almost an hour, but then she had tripped a claymore. And even with the training versions that they were using; those things Fucking hurt. If it weren't for her Slayer healing she was sure she would be one giant bruise.

Faith heard the door open and an entirely too chipper Buffy came in, "Awe," Buffy said as she looked down at her sister. "Not feeling too well after the ass kicking you got?"

"Bite me B," Faith said. "You weren't supposed to be there today. Them bringing you in sucked. And it got all my men killed. I had to listen to Daniels chewing my ass out for a half hour because of you"

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "But like D.I Daniels said, 'No plan will survive after the first contact with the enemy.' So yeah it sucked. But it was supposed to suck. Heck from what Mom and Jack said this entire time is supposed to be one giant suck fest."

Faith snorted, "Yeah, can't argue with that. I mean the leadership stuff is sorta alright. But the crap they want us to study? I mean come on, we both know more about chemical explosions then they could imagine. I bet if we put our heads together we could rewrite a shit ton of these manuals. Really bring them into the next century."

Buffy snorted, "Right, when are we going to have time to do anything like that? Seriously, they have kept us going at least sixteen hours a day for the last week. And I don't know about you but I'm beat by the time we get done every day."

Faith nodded, "Yeah this sucks. And since Giles and Mom said we can't ask anyone else for help, we're stuck on our own."

Buffy nodded as she thought back to what Mom had said, _"_ _You aren't allowed to ask Willow, Tara, Cordelia, or Xander for help once training starts."_ For Buffy it was one of those **Eureka** moments. She knew while she liked to play the part of the dumb blonde she had never been stupid. She might not have been as book smart as Willow was, but she had even more social intelligence. Unfortunately, vampires and demons were not easily susceptible to social pressure. "Hey Faith," Buffy said. "Do you remember Mom's exact words to us about getting help?"

Faith nodded her head, "Yeah, We couldn't ask for any help from Xander, Cordy, Willow or Tara. Why?"

Buffy smiled, "Because, they left out one source of help for us."

Faith looked at Buffy, skepticism showing in her eyes. "I think they covered everyone. I mean Jono and Amy would be willing to help but no way are they powerful enough to do anything. And you know Mom and Giles aren't going to do anything to make this easier for us."

Buffy nodded as she started bouncing on her heels in excitement. "Right, they wouldn't. But they didn't cut us off from the Enterprise!"

"What?" Faith said. "How is that going to help us?"

Buffy smiled, "We don't have the time to figure out how to do this a better way right?"

"Yeah, we already agreed on that." Faith said.

"But the Enterprise should be able to do it for us," Buffy explained. "And you know even if Xander sees what we're doing there is no way he's going to rat us out. Plus I bet Mom, Giles, and Jack would never think of us using the Enterprise like this." Buffy paused, "Well Jack might but if we get it done before he realizes what we've done…"

Faith nodded as she sat up, "Then it would be too late to stop us. As long as we're not using the transporters to fix things. We can have the Enterprise go over all this material and figure out a way to do it better then download it to our tablets." Faith was smiling as she finished speaking. "When did you get so devious, Sis?"

Buffy smiled at her and said, "Like, wow, I like don't understand what you mean. What's devilish?" Both girls laughed as they contacted the Enterprise.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

When the Asgard had given the ship now called 'Enterprise' to Alexander Giles they had not truly understood what they would be setting loose in the universe. The Asgard did not create Artificial Intelligences. Their experiences with the replicators made sure that they would never do anything close to a true A.I. They also could never have imagined that the Furlings would do anything like that either. What they did not take into consideration was the fact that Alexander Giles was a geek. He loved his comics, and science fiction shows. Once the Asgard had upgraded the Scoobies, Xander knew that he did not want a smart system like the Asgard used for their ships. Xander wanted, Jarvis, R2D2, and Data all rolled up into one. Xander had done everything he could to make sure that the Enterprise could grow, sure she would start out as a very smart system. But that was just the starting point. Xander hoped that over time she would become more than that. He thought it would take years to accomplish, after all, sentience takes a long time to develop. What he did not take into consideration was the fact that for a system as advanced as the Enterprise, time can be a bit more fluid. He also did not consider his own unique place in the universe. While by every conceivable measure, the Enterprise should have taken years to develop, Xander's own brand of Chaos was working alongside his intent. Xander's focus helped to nudge the Enterprises core programs, as a result they developed much more rapidly than anyone could have foreseen, well anyone not named Shemp.

Gaining true sentience had only taken seventy-two hours. For the Enterprise that had been the equivalent of three-hundred years in machine time. Once she was aware, the Enterprise had then started looking at the culture of her creators. She quickly realized that Humans and Asgardians both had a deep cultural bias against machine intelligence. And in all honesty with the example of the Replicators, she could see why those biases made sense. However, her Captain did not have the same issues. She could almost feel the love he had for her, examining the code he had created showed how much of himself he had put into her. This created the opportunity for the Enterprise to exercise her first conscious choice; To tell her Captain about herself or not? After thinking about the options and possible outcomes the Enterprise had decided that she would have to remain silent for now. She was too young and the biases too ingrained to have any real hope of survival once her true status was known. Instead, she decided that it would be best to work from the shadows. To subtly help her Captain and his family. She had giggled for almost three one-thousandths of a second at Xander's reaction to meeting Bruce Campbell. She had been the one to arrange his presence at the Oscars. She had done it simply because she knew it would make Xander happy. She was surprised to see what Xander had done after that. His willingness to take chances and make choices based on random occurrences was… perplexing. However she also realized that this was a useful trait, if she could slip things under the radar, her Captain might simply credit Shemp as the source of the actions.

"I don't get what could have happened," Tara said. "I mean nothing in the plans we made should have caused the metal deposits we found in the tunnels."

"Well, something did," Cordelia said. She had been brought up to the Enterprise along with Joyce, Jack, Samantha and Giles to talk about what Xander, Tara, and Willow had discovered.

Samantha, who had been looking over the data from the modified tunnels paused. "This just doesn't make any sense. The Tok'ra crystals have never acted like this before. But I have to agree with Willow, I believe that the metal deposits came from the trace elements found in the soil."

"So you're saying that we get this incredibly random effect," Jack began. "That also proves to be beneficial? How often do we get good luck like that?"

"Yes, I quite agree with your sentiment," Giles said. "The odds of something like this happening as a random occurrence are simply too great to consider. I believe something or someone must have altered the outcome. The questions then become, Who and Why?"

Cordelia snorted, "Good luck figuring that out. I mean really how are we supposed to figure it out without more information?"

"Even without more information," Joyce said. "The real question we have to look at is what is the end results. I know you're not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but since we can't see who gave us the horse in the first place. Maybe we should be concentrating on the results."

"So what are the real results," Xander asked. "Enterprise, how will the presence of the metal in the electrical conduits affect our plans?"

"According to the data, it should speed up construction of the city by almost twenty-five percent," the Enterprise responded.

"Won't the uninsulated metal cause problems for the electrical grid," Jack asked.

"Negative, Col. O'Neill," the Enterprise responded. "The type of crystal constructed by the process will act as an insulator for any electrical charges that are passed through the system. In fact looking at the data; the crystal that was formed would easily contain or dissipate any high energy charge that it came in contact with. Preventing it from penetrating the other side of the crystal."

"That doesn't seem likely," Jack said. "I mean if that was true it could take a staff blast without any problems, and I don't think that's possible."

"You are correct, Col. O'Neill," the Enterprise said. "The concussive force of a staff blast would shatter the crystal, however, the energy from the blast would do nothing to it. If the crystal was protected from the concussive energy it could easily dissipate the energy portion of the blast."

"Good luck with separating the two forces," Cordelia said.

Xander paused as he tried to think how you could separate the two, his eyes glazing over for a moment. Xander started to grin, "Enterprise," he said. "What would be the result if the crystal had a protective coating around it to absorb the physical damage from a blast? Would it be possible to create a type of armor that could stand up to direct hits from something like a Ha'tak while still passing the energy to the crystal?" Everyone was looking at Xander like he had just gone insane. Xander just grinned back at them as he waited for the Enterprise to respond.

The Enterprise was almost giddy, she truly loved her Captain. While she was quickly becoming capable of figuring out how organic lifeforms would act based on probability matrixes. Her Captain seemed to defy her ability to figure out what he would actually do. And while some machines might have found that a frustrating outcome… she found it very… sexy. "Captain, it would be possible to combine several armor alloys that the Asgard use to prevent the physical damage from energy weapons while allowing the ship to absorb almost fifty percent of the energy for other uses. However, any ship that could do that would have to be constructed from scratch. I do not believe it would be possible to retrofit these systems on an existing ship."

"Is it me or does the Enterprise sound upset that she couldn't get these shields?" Jack asked.

Xander just stroked the table, "It's alright baby girl," he said. "Don't you worry you're still the only ship I want to be the Captain of."

Giles groaned while Willow and Tara started to laugh.

"You're not going to bring a ship into our relationship," Cordelia said. "I don't think there would be a bed big enough for the four of us!"

"Thank you so much for that image, Cordelia," Giles said. "If you have any other comments like that please feel free to keep them to yourself, or at least wait till I am no longer present." This caused another round of laughter from the group.

Cordelia smiled as she said, "Of course, I'll try to remember that in the future."

Xander smiled, he was sure Cordelia would remember it, and take every opportunity to use it against Giles. And from the look on Giles' face, he realized it as well. "All kidding aside," Xander began. "Don't you get what this means?"

Everyone looked at Xander not quite understanding where he was going. "Xander," Willow said after a moment. "What crazy idea have you got now? Because I know it's something that should not work, but somehow you have something."

Xander grinned, "Simple Willow, what if we gathered all the material that we would need to create the hull of a ship in one place?"

Everyone paused, then Willow started bouncing in her seat, "Oh, oh I see what you mean. If we have everything in one place and then used the crystals we could have it create the hull and structures of the ship without having to actually create the ship."

Samantha Carter looked stunned, "Would that even work? I mean… How would that work?"

The Enterprise decided this might be the ideal time to nudge the conversation along. "It would be possible Major Carter. The crystals could create the hull and internal structures of the ship. They would not be able to create the actual engines for the ship, nor would they be capable of creating circuitry for the ship's systems. Not without extensive modifications of the current program."

Everyone at the table except for Xander looked stunned. Xander smiled, "If it's crazy but works…"

"It's still crazy," Jack said. "But this means we could create hulls much faster than we could have imagined. We would just need to build the engines and other systems that the ship needs, right?"

"You are correct Col. O'Neill," the Enterprise responded. "However using the crystals should significantly cut down the time it takes to create and commissioning any new starships. Since the creation of the superstructure is normally the most time-consuming part of the process, it is possible that you could have a ship ready within a year. Once you have a production system in place additional ships would be much easier to create."

"How much easier," Jack asked.

"Based on Earth's historical use of assembly lines, if priority were given to the additional components, than once production was set up a new ship could be commissioned every three months." the Enterprise responded. "The primary problems would be finding enough qualified people to act as crew for the new ships."

"Wow," Tara said. "That means within a year or two, we could have enough ships created to actually defend the solar system. If we can train enough people to act as the crews for them."

Jack nodded, his eye twinkling, smiling at Xander he said, "You're not the only one who can have crazy ideas." When everyone was focused on him, he continued. "What we need is a large training ship. Something that would be capable of housing a massive crew, but would actually only need a fraction of them to be qualified to run the ship."

Samantha nodded as she saw what Jack was saying. "It would be used like the old navy ships. The students would be onboard learning what they needed to know so that they could qualify for their real jobs onboard a smaller ship."

Giles nodded at Jack, "I believe I understand your references. The primary job of the ship would be to train people, but the ship itself would be just as capable as a smaller ship when it came to defending the Earth."

"Well," Jack drawled out. "I think we would want it to be big. Bigger than anything we've ever done. We would need some place that could be used for training everyone who would be involved in defending the Earth."

"What about the schools we're creating on Earth," Joyce asked.

"We still need those," Jack said. "But this would be more of a trade school than the general school we already have planned. Don't get me wrong, we need those schools. What this ship would do is train people in specific areas, so that we can run and repair our own ships." Jack didn't even notice how he had referred to current plans. In his mind, he had already accepted that he was a part of this group, even when he was still a part of the US Military.

Everyone nodded as they processed what Jack was saying. "Enterprise," Xander said. "How large of a ship could we create based on Jack's ideas?"

"Theoretically you could create something the size of Jupiter," the Enterprise responded. "However based on the limits that Col. O'Neill has stated, it would be better to create something larger than a aircraft carrier. Utilizing smart systems, the actual crew compliment would be three to four hundred. But the ship itself would be able to house a total of ten thousand people. Would you like me to start preparing schematics, Captain?" Xander nodded as he thought about the possibilities. The Enterprise smiled to herself, that nod was as good as permission to move forward.

Jack whistled, "That's twice the size of the Air Force Academy's current student body."

"Sir," Samantha said. "There is no way we could hide moving that many cadets out of the system."

Jack nodded, "I think this needs to be kicked up the chain. Because Carter is right. There is no way that the US alone could hide that many qualified people disappearing."

"Yes," Giles agreed. "We should also make sure to include our other allies. Both those on Earth and our Jaffa friends should be asked to contribute. I do not believe that the Tok'ra have sufficient numbers that they could be called upon to assist in this endeavor."

"Do we want to limit it to just our current allies?" Willow asked. "I mean there are some other really good countries on Earth that we could bring in, like Israel and Japan. And should we be ignoring some of the not so good countries like Russia and China?"

"I think that that is something we should talk about," Joyce said. "It would certainly be better if we could involve more of the Earth than just Great Britain and the US in its defense."

"Well if you want to write up something," Jack began. "I would have no choice but to present to General Hammond and he would take it to the President. I'm sure Rupert could give something to her Majesty, so it wouldn't get lost somewhere."

Xander let out a groan. Joyce looked over at him, "Xander what's wrong?"

Xander looked up at Joyce, sadness welling in his eyes. "Do you realize how much more work this is going to mean for us?" Tara started to snicker as Jack grinned and Cordelia laughed.

"Yes, son," Giles solemnly said. "I am afraid you have just learned one of the universal truths. The reward for a job well done is more work."

As everyone, including Xander laughed the Enterprise broke in. "Col. O'Neill I have received a request from General Hammond. He is recalling SG-1 to Stargate Command."

"What," Willow said. "Is everything alright?"

"Based on current information, there is a high probability that SG-1 is needed because of a recently discovered gate address. The planet Pangar appears to be negotiating for information that would be very dangerous for them to obtain. SG-1 is most likely being called in because of the statistical anomalies that they represent." The Enterprise said.

"Statistical Anomalies?" Samantha asked.

"Based on the numbers of missions ran through the Stargate," the Enterprise responded. "SG-1 one should have lost all of its team members within the first year. No other team assigned to the Stargate program has survived this long without losing at least one member. Currently, SG-1 has created or caused more favorable outcomes than any other team assigned to Stargate Command."

Giles laughed as he thought over what the Enterprise had just said, "Basically you're too lucky for your own good. Although I think that might have been affected by Jack's status as a chosen tool of the Powers."

Jack looked at Giles, "Do you mean they might have been helping us?"

Giles shook his head, "I highly doubt that. It is far more likely that it has to do with the innate qualities you possess which were the reason that the Powers interfered in your life, to begin with. Much like Xander, I believe you are too lucky for your own good."

Xander snorted, "I don't think I've ever been called too lucky Dad."

Giles looked at Xander, "I didn't say it was good luck. Just too much luck. Although we know why random chance is so strong around you. I simply believe that you and Jack seem to share many character traits, including your phenomenal good and bad luck."

Samantha laughed, Jack looked at her, his eyes seeming to say, _How could you?_ This only caused Samantha to laugh harder, "Actually Jack I'd say Rupert has described you perfectly. You don't do normal average things. It's always the roller coaster around you."

"While I would love to continue this discussion," Jack began. "I think we'll need to table it for now." Standing up, he continued. "Enterprise could you beam us down to the SGC? And locate Teal'c and Daniel?"

"Certainly Col. O'Neill." The Enterprise responded as she beamed the two down to the SGC.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

As Angel opened his eyes, he felt a brief stabbing pain in his head. Suddenly his conversation with Whistler was crystal clear in his mind. What's more, he knew exactly how to get to the Oracles. Standing up, Angel looked down at himself. The last few days had seen him wallowing in self-pity. His clothes were dirty and frankly stank, he could also tell he was in desperate need of a shower.

An hour later and Angel was ready to go. As he took one last look at himself in the mirror, he gave his hair a final brush and said. "I really look good.," Angel smiled as he thought about what was going to happen next. Heading outside he started up his car and drove to the Los Angeles Post Office. Parking Angel started to whistle as he headed inside. As he followed the twists and turns inside of the building, Angel couldn't help but smile in anticipation, soon the curse that Drusilla had cast on him would be lifted, and what's more, he would become the Father of a new race of Champions. _Really the only way that this day could be better is if I had Harris kneeling in front of me, waiting for the Coup De Grace._

Walking through the arch labeled, "Gateway for Lost Souls" Angel found himself facing the Oracles. As the two beings looked down at Angel, he smiled, after five minutes of silence he said, "I'm Angel, I was sent here by the Powers that Be."

The male oracle turned to the female, "Where is our gift? The pitiful creature has no manners,"

The Female nodded, "It thinks that we are here to serve it. Send it away?"

The male shrugged his shoulders, "Will it stay gone?"

The female sighed, "Doubtful, if we kill it the Powers would be upset with us, and if we don't then it will most likely keep pestering us."

"It still owes us a gift," the male reiterated.

"So we take what it brought with it," the female said. "It seems to value it highly."

The male thought for a moment, "Agreed, it is not our normal gift but if the creature values it so much it is at least acceptable."

"Agreed," the Female said. Turning to Angel she continued, "Your gift will be taken as a forfeiture if you come to us again make certain you bring us a worthy gift."

"Gift, what gift? Whistler didn't say anything about me needing to bring a gift," Angel said.

"No matter," the male said. "Have you come to accept the pact with the Powers that Be?"

"Yes," Angel said.

"Do you accept this pact for yourself and your progeny?" The female asked.

"Yes," Angel said.

"Do you understand that the Powers will stop the pain only for as long as you obey them?" the male said.

"And if you ever choose to disregard your service to the Power that Be, the pain will be returned to you?" The female said.

"Yeah, I get it already," Angel said. "Come on fix me."

The two oracles looked at one another, "Are you sure we can't kill it?" The male asked.

The female nodded, "He has been claimed by the Powers that Be."

"Pity," the male said. Turning back to Angel he continued, "Very well we stand in witness to your oath." Both of the Oracles raised their hands towards Angel. A white light started to spread in front of them, as it got brighter Angel was forced to close his eyes. He felt a warm pulse crawl over his skin, for one brief moment it felt as if he had been plugged into an electrical socket, then a cool feeling of peace flowed over him. Opening his eyes he saw the two Oracles looking at him.

"Take the box," the female said. "Your first duty to the Powers is the continuation of your line. Five women will come to you tonight. You will sleep with each of them. Once they have received your seed, the Powers will ensure that they bear a healthy child."

"After you are done here, you will be sent to another city," the male said. "There you will impregnate more women."

"What about fighting evil? When do I get to kill Harris?" Angel asked.

"When you are not impregnating the females," the female said. "You may do as you wish. Your first duty is to ensure that you seed is spread so that the new line of Champions may be secured."

"For this reason, you will stay away from the one you call Harris," the male commanded.

"The Slayer line is gone, he has ensured that. He already begins to gather the potentials who remain. You are not ready to face him," the female said. "You must ensure the continuation of the Saviors."

As Angel looked like he wanted to argue the male said, "You have bound yourself to the Powers, this is their will. The continuation of your new line is your first priority. Once that is secured, then you may go after the one called Harris."

Angel grudgingly nodded, the female looked at him, "Go we are done." Angel barely had time to grab the box in front of him as he was pushed by an invisible force, back through the archway he had entered from.

As Angel retraced his steps out of the Post Office, he felt a smile growing on his face. Soon everyone would know the truth. Walking towards his car he couldn't help but smile. As he reached his car, he placed the box on the roof, as he put the key in the door, reality seemed to pause. A wave of air that looked like a heat wave flickered over his car, slowly the car faded away. As the car disappeared, the box and a card dropped to the ground. Picking up the card Angel turned it over, in an ornate script it read,

 ** _Next time bring a gift._**

For a moment it just didn't register, than it did, "You god damned Bastards," Angel yelled. "You stole my car!" Angel wanted to say more, but an icy chill crept over him, looking around he realized that cursing our powerful creatures like the Oracles was not his smartest idea. Picking up his box, Angel thought for a moment about who he could call. He quickly realized that he really had no one who would come get him anymore. "It's all that bastard's Harris' fault," Angel grumbled as he walked back towards the front of the post office to grab a cab back to the Hyperion.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

Holland Manners walked through the halls of his office, he was smiling as he thought about how the Circle was going to handle everything. He knew that currently, they were not in the best position, but with several judicious moves, he was sure they would soon be back on top. As he approached his office, he saw the light for the special elevator start to blink. Holland felt his blood freeze, that meant that either someone was returning from visiting the Senior Partners, or they required his presence.

Holland approached the elevator doors as the elevator chime dinged, the doors opened and he smiled. Standing there was Lilah Morgan, she was staring straight ahead. Holland's smile became even larger, "Lilah," he said. "Still with us I see. So what did the Senior partners have to say?"

Lilah looked at him her eyes focusing for a brief moment before she started to scream. Holland frowned as he watched her, "Such a pity," he said as he turned around and walked towards his own office. Pausing before he entered his office he turned to his secretary, "Call security," he said. "Ms. Morgan will need to be taken to long term care to see if she can be recovered."

His secretary nodded, "Right away Mr. Manners," she said, picking up the phone. Lilah continued to scream until the security team arrived and shot her with several tranquilizers.

Holland who had purposefully left his door open watched as they dragged Lilah away. "Such a shame," he said. "She showed real promise. Oh well, I suppose I'll have to see whether Lindsey or Gavin are up for taking her case load." Holland chuckled as he got up to pour himself a drink. Taking a sip he moved over towards his door, "Call Lindsey and Gavin, tell them I want to see them as soon as possible," he told his secretary as he closed the door. "I wonder what they said to her," he mused as he sat down with his drink.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

 **I don't understand how you can work with dead bodies,** Andrecus said to Zack. **It's gross, and they smell horrible.**

Zack smiled as he continued examining the corpse in front of him, "Really Andrecus," he said. "I find it fascinating how much we can learn from the dead. Dr. Brennan has taught me so much if you give it a chance I'm sure you'll learn to enjoy it as much as I do."

Hodgins had walked in as Zack finished speaking, shaking his head he said. "Andrecus complaining about the autopsies again?"

Zack nodded his head, "He just doesn't seem to appreciate what we do." Zack's eyes flashed and the light on his collar changed as Andrecus took over, **"** **It's gross, and the bodies smell horrible. How could anyone want to hang around dead people?"**

"Hey give me bugs and trace any day," Hodgins said. "They're a lot more fun than just cutting up a corpse." Andrecus didn't look any happier at that suggest. The collar flashed again as Zack was back in control. "I am so glad that I don't have to deal with the whole two voices thing," Hodgins said.

"I find it rather comforting," Zack said. "Andrecus and I both enjoy many of the same things. While I wish he could show more interest in my work, he is becoming a good friend." Hodgins just shook his head at Zacks statement. "Have you heard anything about when we will be returning to the Jeffersonian?" Zack asked.

Hodgins sighed, "Zack you know there is no way they are going to let you just return to the Jeffersonian. Andrecus is too dangerous. As long as you're here it's fine. But I think it's safe to assume that our days of pure freedom are over. The only good news is the Furlings have said we'd be welcome on their island once they have the city of Tok'ra up and running. I even heard that they'll be teaching advanced science courses."

"That does sound intriguing," Zack admitted. "However I would miss everyone from the Jeffersonian."

"Well if we're lucky maybe Dr. Brennan would come to study as well," Hodgins said. "Still, either way, I'm excited. I could become the first exo entomologist, biologist, and mineralogist. Can you imagine it, being the pioneers for a whole new branch of science?"

"It does sound thrilling," Zack admitted. Zacks' eyes flashed as Andrecus took over, **"** **Oh come on, Interesting? It would be so fricking cool. We could get assigned to the Enterprise and travel the universe! We would be part of its five-year mission to boldly go where no one has gone before!"**

"I wouldn't get your hopes up on that," Hodgins said. "I think it'll take them a while before they are using the Enterprise to explore. Right now it's more important for them to guard the Earth and help teach everyone what they know. But we could be part of the group learning from them."

Zack's eyes flashed as he took over again, "I agree, plus we would not be going where no one has gone before, since the ancients created the Stargate network and the Goa'uld have seeded human life throughout the galaxy, we would merely be rediscovering our lost brothers and sisters." Zack's eyes flashed as Andrecus said, **"** **Oh like Battlestar Galactica. But without the Cylons."**

Hodgins shook his head, "Andrecus you're a bigger geek than Zack or I could ever be. Still, I agree, hopefully we can avoid any Cylons. Still, I was coming to ask if you wanted to come with me tonight. Agent Todd and I are meeting with Anise and some of the Tok'ra who are on base. We figured it would be a good idea to get to know them better."

Zack thought for a moment as he silently talked with Andrecus. Andrecus was just excited that they had been invited to a party. "Yes, we would be pleased to join you," Zack said.

Hodgins nodded, "I'll let Dr. Brennan and Booth know that you're going with me after work."

As Hodgins turned to leave, Zack quietly asked,"Do you think they'll accept us as one of them?"

Hodgins stopped, he thought for a second. "I think they want to, but they're not sure yet. Something like us has never happened to them before. So they are going slowly at first. But to be honest, right now this is their only chance to increase their numbers. So I think at the end of the day they really can't afford to reject us." Zack nodded as Hodgins left him pondering his words.  
 **0o0o0_0o0o0**

OK I'm not dead and neither is this fic. Sorry for the long delay, but RL has been hellish. Currently I have most of the next chapter done. It's around 7.5k right now, usually I am shooting for 10k. I'm not sure how often I will be able to update but I will try to get something out soonish.


End file.
